Cropping systems in the Vu Gia Thu Bon river basin, Central Vietnam: On farmers' stubborn persistence in predominantly cultivating rice

Despite high pressures for agricultural land conversion, increasing competition for water, and the low net benefits of rice production, rice is still by far the predominant farm occupation in the Vu Gia Thu Bon basin in Central Vietnam. This study examined the reasons for such persistence, by surveying and analyzing a comprehensive set of qualitative (planting and harvesting dates) and quantitative data (yields, labor and non-labor inputs, prices) for all the crops present in the cropping systems of 116 farms in the region. The net benefit derived from rice production was on average 23 M VND ha−1, with a relatively low labor input of 144 man-day per ha−1. The net benefits generated by vegetable production are more than 9 times higher (ca. 208 M VND ha−1) with a labor demand of ca. 928 man-day ha−1. Despite the very high net benefits of vegetable production, in this region they do not translate into an equivalently high added value per man-day. These values are 'only' nearly double than those for rice, and not much higher than those for groundnut, chili, and watermelon. The results indicate that farmers' decisions for not rushing in diversifying production to vegetables are wise when looking at food security, the high risks of vegetable production, shortage of on-farm labor resources, and high opportunity costs of non-farm income activities. Under current conditions, wage rate differentials between the agricultural and non-farm sector will most probably increase in favor of the latter. Thereby, policy measures towards promotion of the agricultural sector and diversification into larger production scales of high-value crops need to target improvements in effective marketing channels, capacity building in high-value crops specific technologies, as well as reduction of labor inefficiencies.