Effects of Land Quality on Land Use: Farm-level Panel-data Evidence from Viet Nam

The sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF) is a comprehensive way to study agricultural issues. So far, to our best knowledge, no study has applied the SLF to examine the influence of land quality on land use intensively. The current research examines the effects of land quality on farmers’ decision-making on land use in Vietnam by modifying the sustainable livelihoods framework and using the fixed effects regression model. The method controlled the household and commune-level unobserved invariant characteristics and resulted in more robust estimates than pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation. The sample is a five-wave panel dataset of 2008-2016 with 1,534 farm households. The results reveal that land quality affects land-use choices through several aspects of land quality. More specifically, regarding topography, plot fertility level, plot locations, and soil and water conservation, results show that their effects reflect the cultivating practices for each land-use type in the sample. Findings also show that the irrigation system positively affects rice production in Vietnam. Policymakers should consider various aspects of land quality when designing policies and programs relating to land use, irrigation distribution, and especially the master plan for agricultural production and rural development. Flexible guidance for land uses of each type is closely connected with land quality in each region that may be most suitable for sustainable agriculture development.