Exports with equity? Land, income, and agrarian transition in Vietnam

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper uses survey data from the Mekong River Delta region of Vietnam to explore the equity implications of export-oriented agrarian transitions in two communities, one engaged in intensive rice agriculture and the other shrimp farming. The data show that shrimp aquaculture has brought greater inequality in the distribution of land, while generating more employment and economic opportunity and creating a more equitable distribution of income than rice farming. This study suggests that processes of agrarian transition can shape social relations around land and labour in divergent ways, due to differences in the nature of export commodities and their production.