VIETNAM'S SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT No.1, SPRING 1995

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY AND NEW TENDENCIES IN PRODUCTION COOPERATION IN THE MEKONG DELTA

Do Thai Dong
Institute of Social Sciences
Ho Chi Minh City

The problem of the role of households in agricultural production was basically solved by Decision No.10 of the Central Committee of Vietnam Communist Party, which recognized the household's autonomy in production and trade. Many years before, the ambition of abolishing private peasant ownership led to the idea of eliminating the household as a basic production unit and to replace it with compulsory agricultural cooperatives. Practice, however, has shown that the household economy has a tenacious vitality as it has since ancient times, and all rural development policies should be based on this as a point of departure.

In most cases, our notion of the household economy, especially households in the Mekong Delta, coincides with the notion of the peasant family. It is different from western farms not only by acreage size but also by the way business is conducted. The household economy is a small family economy, which belongs to a pre-capitalist mode of production. It is not a component of capitalist market as is the farm economy.

As a production unit, a family in the Mekong Delta does not differ much from families in northern or central Vietnam. Like others, it is a unit of land ownership and land use, a unit which carries on investment and savings. It is also self-financed and self-managed, balancing its production and consumption, and at the same time a unit which bears all duties before the state.

Unlike families in cities and industrial areas, rural family is both a production unit and a living unit at the same time. This is the historical mode of production in Vietnam's agriculture. Today, as well as in the future, it is impossible to develop agricultural production and build up rural social life without this basic family unit concept.

The constituent factors of the household economy include: number of people in a family, land stock, labour, sources of funds and means of production, and sources of income from agricultural and non-agricultural activities. Surveys have shown that the household average demographic size is 5.5 people per unit in the Mekong Delta. Families with 4-10 members make up 85% of the total. More than 70% of families consist of 2 generations.

Land distribution tends to be determined not by an equality objective, as formerly, but to be influenced largely by market relations. After promulgation of Decision No.10, a majority of disputes were solved as long as household rights to long-term land use was recognized. The 1992 land law extended recognition to the rights of land inheritance, transfer and use as pledge.

Source: Rural survey, Do Thai Dong, Thot Not district, 1986.

Thus, more than 50% of land belonged to households since before 1975. Changes of land in last 12 years relate to the other half, major parts of which changed owners in the period 1978-82. Disputes for land since 1987 had led to the complete collapse of various production brigades and co-operatives formed in administrative way. Hence, household autonomy in production was recognized. A major part of land which changed owners was returned to its original owners.

In fact, Decision No.10 served only as a recognition of land situation which was formed a long time ago in the Mekong Delta. The former land situation now appears again in which the overwhelming majority of households are middle class: about 10% rich, 70% middle and 20% poor. In the traditional agricultural regions, land property of 3 to 5 hectares will be a model representing a long-term limit for land accumulation. The majority of the rest households will have approximately one hectare of land each.

Recently, households which have proven their abilities in market-oriented production make up only 10% of middle peasant households. Capital which households had saved and started using in their business is the most important factor for households to prove their actual role in market-oriented production. About 40% of households in the Mekong Delta will be able to overtake self-sufficient level and choose a way to develop into market economy.

Except prosperous middle households (50%), we have 30% of households with production and income level below the average and other 20% of poor households. Households below the average can only reach self-sufficiency. 20% of households are poor, with an average per capita income below 25,000 Dong per month. Despite the fact that the Mekong Delta is the rice bowl of the country, this region still has hungry people. According to an assessment by Ministry of Labour, 6% of households in this region are chronically hungry throughout the year.

In the Mekong Delta usury is very serious and almost a custom. Interest rates may reach 20% or even 30% per month. Being a hired labourer is one of the ways for poor people to earn their living. In agriculture at present, 50% of households have only two sources of income: rice cultivation and pig raising. Very few households could turn poultry or cattle raising, or fishing into major sources of income.

To turn a household into a factor for development, to change the nature of the household income structure, and to help households generate savings and solve surplus labour problems, we have to solve problems outside of the household framework. How to organize the economy so that it integrates household resources, agriculture and industry. Thus, inevitably it touches upon problems of cooperativization and industrialization in rural areas.

When production reaches a certain level, it will automatically bring about the development of co-operative structures. This happens inevitably in the process of socializing production. Every household, even if given maximum autonomy, has a limited space for development, especially in the market mechanism. Hence, households themselves need to co-operate.

In Vietnam, compulsory co-operativization was applied for a period of time. In the Mekong Delta, collectivization had deprived households of autonomy, hence incurring deep displeasure. However, today after households were given autonomy, forms of co-operation under different names started to appear again.

The membership of co-operatives is made up of households. Co-operation is completely voluntary, and is initiated and established by households, without any intervention from the authorities. The field for co-operation is very concrete: cultivation of new crops, raising of fish or shrimp, services like tillage and plant protection. Management is very simple. Co-operatives defend the interest of the peasantry against pressures from private traders.

A recent survey in An Giang province revealed 2,191 co-operative groups of production, attracting 78,952 households, and occupying 41.1% of cultivated acreage (70,289 hectares). 50% of households raising fish, pigs, or cows have joined co-operative groups for animal husbandry.

The An Giang Provincial Rural Development Program made the following remarks: 1) Co-operativization aims at helping the household economy, not abolishing it. 2) Co-operation is based on the social division of labour. 3) Co-operativization in the market economy does not mean the abolishment of private ownership; it is necessary to exploit private interests as a motive force. 4) The co-operative is an important link for technological transfer in rural areas.

Rural economic infrastructure in the Mekong Delta still remains very weak. Government plays a key role in supporting co-operatives. Governmental support comprises loans, tax policy, protection of the market, and especially the supply of intellectual labour. The goal is to advance co-operatives step-by-step from scattered units to a co-operative network. In the future, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, as well as other foreign banks also can finance large-scale projects through large co-operatives.

---

※日本語訳：日本・ベトナム交流促進センターにて ChatGPT 5.2, Gemini 3, Cursor 2.4.32 を使用