The dynamic pathways of agrarian change in the Red River Delta of Vietnam

Even though agricultural production has not been the main source of income for rural households in Red River Delta, yet farming remains an important livelihood and security for many rural people. The empirical findings from fieldwork in a village in the Red River Delta of Vietnam show how dependence on agriculture is determined by family context, including land, education and job of household members, their gender and age. Most educated young people have successfully found employment opportunities outside in the village as migratory wage labour, and have capacity to attain higher social status and become rural entrepreneurs. While less educated and older villagers consider agriculture as a more favorable alternative and valuable security. Besides, maintenance agricultural production at reasonable level and return to traditional cultivation is also considered as a rural household strategy coping with food security in industrialization and rural-urban linkage. Diverse and special extended livelihoods are contributed by historical, cultural and economic specificities which are conditioned for rural transformation.