Does land tenure security promote manure use by farm households in Vietnam?

authored by: Trung Thanh Nguyen, Siegfried Bauer, Ulrike Grote
Abstract: Facing widespread poverty and land degradation, Vietnam started a land reform in 1993 as part of its renovation policy package known as "Doi Moi". This paper examines the impacts of improved land tenure security, via this land reform, on manure use by farm households. As manure potentially improves soil fertility by adding organic matter and nutrients to the soil surface, it might contribute to improving soil productive capacity and reversing land degradation. Random effect regression models are applied to a panel dataset of 133 farm households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam collected in 1993, 1998, and 2006. The results confirm that land tenure security has positive effects on manure use, but the levels of influence differ depending on whether the land has been privatized or whether the land title has already been issued. In addition, manure use is also influenced by the number of cattle and pigs, the education level and ethnicity of household heads, farm land size and non-farm income. The findings suggest that speeding up land privatization and titling, encouraging cattle and pig rearing, and improving education would promote manure use in farm production. However, careful interpretation of our research findings is required as land privatization, together with economic growth and population pressure, might lead to overuse of farm inputs.
Organisation(s): Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade
External Organisation(s): Justus Liebig University Giessen
Type: Article
Journal: Sustainability (Switzerland)
Volume: 8
ISSN: 2071-1050
Publication date: 18.02.2016
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Geography, Planning and Development, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 2 - Zero Hunger, SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 15 - Life on Land
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.3390/su8020178 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/530 (Access: Open)