Social capital enhances the resilience of agricultural cooperatives: Comparative case studies in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in increasing rice production and contribute to the rural economy of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, but their resilience can be influenced by community governance and the social capital of members. This study investigated the comparative importance of social capital of members in two agricultural cooperatives in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. We focused on two primary research questions: (1) How has social capital influenced the resilience of agricultural cooperatives for rice production? (2) What key factors influenced social capital in the two cooperatives? The study applied qualitative and quantitative data collection methods including focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and household surveys. Measures of social capital of members in the cooperative in An Giang scored higher than that of members in the cooperative in Can Tho. Our study found that low levels of education amongst members and weak bonding social capital between subgroups with different social networks and different farming outputs in the same cooperative were two key factors impacting adversely on the resilience of the two cooperatives. Trust was revealed to be a very important component of successful ACs. These are critical areas that need to be addressed by policy makers in order to improve the community governance and resilience of rice farming cooperatives in the Mekong Delta.