Farm household differentiation in upper-catchments of Northern Vietnam: The key role of access to water?Original Title (non-English) Differenciation des exploitations agricoles dans les montagnes du Nord du Vietnam : le role cle de l'acces a l'eau ? [French]

摘要

In mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam, the redistribution of land use rights, market liberalization, and new forestry policies have had important impacts on the strategies of agricultural households. Upper-catchments of these areas are characterized by a great diversity in socio-economic conditions. A questionnaire survey was carried out with 120 households living in a mountainous district of Yen Bai province to identify the major differentiating factors of farms and the major livelihood strategies. The paper builds upon a typology based on production factors (water, land of different qualities), market integration, and off-farm activities. Among these variables, access to water appears to be a major factor in the differentiation of farms. A breakdown of the different types of access to water (water available during 1 or 2 cropping seasons, individual vs. collective) shows that beyond a seemingly egalitarian distribution of land during de-collectivization, access to water is now very unequal. Some households are under-using their water resources, while others who lack access to water are forced to use their sloping land for rainfed rice cultivation. A different distribution of access to water, through new infrastructures or new allocation rules, could improve the living conditions of the less advantaged households and possibly reduce the problem of overexploitation of sloping lands.