Rice Production, Land Use Dynamics, and Infrastructure Development in Viet Nam’s Mekong River Delta

This study examines the role of infrastructure development and technical change in explaining increases in agricultural production and changes in land use in the Mekong Delta Region of Viet Nam during the 1990s. The study analyzes longitudinal farm survey data from eight villages. A model is developed that combines spatial factors in a neoclassical production framework to examine changes in land use and agricultural technology. Major findings are that the transportation costs involved in moving agricultural input and output between farms and markets significantly affect farmland use and production decisions. Greater transport costs reduced the likelihood that farms would adopt intensive cropping patterns or cultivate nonrice crops. Results also suggest that quality of local water management infrastructure is more important than transport costs in explaining the increased intensity of land use and level of production observed in the Mekong Delta during the 1990s. A simulation model is developed to highlight the implications of findings for future policy aimed at increasing rice production or altering land use in the Mekong Delta.