Rice land protection in a transitional economy: The case of Vietnam

Agricultural land protection (ALP) is a standard policy response to a desire for food security. However, ALP may result in a misallocation of resources. Examining rice land policy in Vietnam, we determine the optimal level of rice land protected against other crops using a stochastic optimization mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Heliyon 2021-04, Vol.7 (4), p.e06754-e06754, Article e06754
Main Authors: Chu, Long, Nguyen, Hoa-Thi-Minh, Kompas, Tom, Dang, Khoi, Bui, Trinh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Farmland protection
Household welfare
Inequality
Land policy
Rice
Vietnam
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Summary:Agricultural land protection (ALP) is a standard policy response to a desire for food security. However, ALP may result in a misallocation of resources. Examining rice land policy in Vietnam, we determine the optimal level of rice land protected against other crops using a stochastic optimization model built on top of a general equilibrium framework, combined with sequential micro-simulations on household data. We find that converting part of protected rice land enhances economic efficiency. Nonetheless, the policy is relatively pro-rich, implying a trade-off between poverty reduction and economic efficiency, making some households in already poor areas worse off. Our approach can be applied to land-use planning generally, highlighting the relevant tradeoffs and the search for needed optimal land-use policies. Farmland protection; Land policy; Rice; Vietnam; Inequality; Household welfare
ISSN:2405-8440
2405-8440
DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06754