Transforming Vietnamese agriculture : gaining more from less

Over the past quarter century, Vietnam's agricultural sector has made enormous progress. Steady advances in smallholder rice productivity and intensification through the 1990s and beyond have played a central role in Vietnam's successes in poverty reduction, national food security, and social stability. Vietnam once experienced hunger yet its per capita food availability now ranks among the top tier of middle-income countries. Many countries are trying to learn from Vietnam's food security success. Vietnam's average rice yields now trail only those of China among Asia's emerging economies. The country has also achieved explosive growth in agricultural exports and now ranks among the top five global exporters in products as diverse as shrimp, coffee, cashews, rice, and pepper. Vietnam's performance in terms of agricultural yields, output, and exports, however, has been more impressive than its gains in efficiency, farmer welfare, and product quality. Vietnam lags behind regional peers in relation to agricultural land, labor, and water productivity and has seen its once robust growth in total factor productivity decline in recent years. A chasm is forming between farm and non-farm incomes, and income inequality is rising within rural areas. Most of Vietnam's agricultural trade is in the form of raw commodities, typically sold at prices lower than those of leading competitors due to quality or other differences. At home, there are growing concerns about food safety.