Acknowledgements Abbreviations

Page 1 of 25 MSc. In RURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 1999 A STUDY OF THE RURAL POVERTY IN DAK LAK PROVINCE-VIETNAM CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALLEVIATION Tran Ngoc Thanh Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MSc in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy, Wye College, University of London, 1999 The views, opinions and recommendations in this Dissertation are those of the Author and do not necessarily represent those of Wye College nor any its staff This Report contains 11,746 words of main text Acknowledgements The author would like to express his grateful appreciation to his teachers at Wye College, University of London for their advice and assistance during the study time. He also would like to thank Dr. Hans Helmrich and Mr. Michael Glueck, leaders of The Sustainable Management of Resources in the Lower Mekong Basin Project provided him with financial and administrative support for the valuable course. Especially, he would like to thank Dr. Graham Woodgate, his supervisor, who has spent a lot of efforts for the study as well as the dissertation. Finally, I also would like to thank my colleagues, classmates, related organizations and the villagers at the pilot sites of the MRC/GTZ project have contributed their knowledge to the study. Abbreviations DLPC The People Committee of Dak Lak Province DARD Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Page 2 of 25 VLSS The Vietnam Living Standard Survey MOLISA Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs GSO Government Statistic Organisation MPI Ministry Of Planning and Investment VND Vietnam Dong (Vietnamese Currency) CEMMA The Committee For Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas DOLISA Department Of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 2 Abbreviation 3 Table of contents 4 Introduction 8 Chapter one: Introduction to the physical and socio-economic condition of Dak Lak 10 Province, Vietnam 1. The physical environment of Dak Lak 10 2. The socio-economic conditions 16 3. Poverty situation in Dak Lak 19 How many households are identified as poor families? 19 What is the poverty line to be used for identifying the poor in Dak Lak? 22 What are the Characteristics of the poor in Dak Lak province? 26 Chapter Two: The origins leading to poverty and the antipoverty programmes of 28 the government in Dak Lak 1. What are the phenomena and the essence of the poor in Dak Lak? 28 2. How many poor groups are there? 28 3. What are the reasons leading to the poor in Dak Lak? 29 (a) Isolation 29 (b) Risks 31 (c) Productive Resources for Income Generation 32 (i) Land resources 32 (ii) Labour 33 (iii) Capital 34 (d) Sustainability 34 (e) Participation 35 4. The past efforts of governments and its imperfection 35 (a) Institutions 35 Page 3 of 25 (b) The initial results of 3 years implemented poverty alleviation in Dak Lak 36 (c) Imperfections and the reasons 40 Chapter three: Some Recommendations for Implementing Hunger Eradication and 44 Poverty Alleviation Program in Dak Lak 1. Foundation for defining criteria of poverty situation 44 2. Framework to determine the solutions for eradicating hunger and reducing poverty 46 3. Proposals for eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty 48 a) An investment in rural infrastructure helps to reduce isolation of rural areas 48 b) In support to the poor on access to natural resources, credit, scientific and 49 technical c) Strengthening people’s participation – a decisive factor 51 d) Enhancing the ability of risk limitation for the poor 52 e) Preserving ecosystem environment 52 Conclusions 54 References 55 List of Figures Figure 1: Dak Lak Map 10 Figure 3: Population of Dak Lak 13 Figure 4: Land Use in Dak Lak 15 Figure 5: Investment Sources in 1999 of Dak Lak 18 Figure 6: Distribution of the Poor and Poverty Households in Dak Lak 20 Figure 7 Agricultural Productive Revenue in Dak Lak 21 Figure 8 Poverty incidence by Education Level of Head of Household 27 Figure 9: Poverty Incidence in Dak Lak (1996-1998) 38 Figure 10: Framework to determine the solutions for poverty alleviation 47 List of Tables Table 1: Population of Dak Lak 12 Table 2: The Status of Land Use in Dak Lak 14 Table 3: Estimated Sources For Development Need To Be supported In 1999 18 Table 4: Classification of poverty families in Dak Lak 19 Table 5: The outcomes from surveying households’ expenses in Dak Phoi commune 45 List of Boxes Box 1: Comparing the Rice Poverty Line to the 2,100 Calories Poverty Line 23 Box 2: Poverty Level and Distribution in Vietnam 24 Page 4 of 25 Box 3: The Poverty Situation in Yang Mao, an Example of Poverty Derived By 29 Isolation Box 4: The Status of Agriculture in the Rural and Solutions 46 Introduction Alleviation of rural poverty is an important concern of the Vietnamese government. It has been pursued since it was first announced in 1989 and continues to be a major concern in the efforts of the government towards achieving a balanced development characterized by rapid and sustainable growth, stability, and equity to date. "Poverty reduction has been a central goal of the Vietnamese government since unification and a driving force behind the economic reforms initiated in 1989. The year 1993 marked an important milestone in Vietnam’s transition to a market economy as the country once again obtained access to concessionaire international finance" For that reason, the government has introduced poverty alleviation policies and associated programmes to reduce the incidence of poverty. However, their efforts have not yet borne much fruit due to the numerous problems. It would therefore be very useful to explore the main reasons for the ineffectiveness of current programmes and to discuss recommendations for more promising options and approaches. Dak Lak is a mountainous province located in the highland territory of Vietnam. Its socio-economic characteristics can be considered as representative of rural areas in Vietnam, such that result of studies carried out in Dak Lak could prove useful for addressing rural poverty in general. The lessons learnt in reducing poverty in Dak Lak may also provide insights that could be useful for adaptation in other central highlands provinces concerned with rural development. This can also be seen as the author’s main reason for deciding to conduct the study in Dak Lak Province. As explained above, the aims of the study are Understanding the realities of the rural poor in Dak Lak Finding out the origins which lead to the poverty situation Considering the constraints of existing poverty alleviation programmes, and Recommending direction for improvement The report begins with an introduction of the physical socio-economic conditions of Dak Lak province, then moves on to a brief description of the poverty situation and a set of criteria to classify different groups of the rural poor. Chapter two explores the main reasons that lead to poverty in Dak Lak, as well as the efforts of the local government in reducing it. In combination with this, an analysis of the constraints to find out why the people still become poor is presented. And the last part of the report is devoted to recommendations for improvement using the theories learnt from the academic courses, as well as experiences of the writer. The methodology used to conduct this study includes collecting information from relevant government organizations in order to understand the strategies of poverty alleviation presented in the national programme for hunger eradication and poverty reduction in Vietnam as well as annual reports from the local authority. Using PRA tools to survey and identify the poverty situation in two selected areas can be seen as examples showing the difficult realities that the poor are facing as well as give insights of peasant societies in rural areas of Dak Lak. Exchange of information among the government staff, professionals and peasant societies in Dak Lak province-Vietnam concerning perceptions of poverty and effective measure organised by round table discussions have contributed to this report. This report does not claim to make a comprehensive assessment of the poverty programme in Dak Lak Province. However, since it was written carefully with the assistance of many professionals, it can be used as a reference related to the poverty eradication programme in Dak Lak. Page 5 of 25 Chapter one: Introduction to the physical and socio-economic condition of Dak Lak Province, Vietnam 1. The physical environment of Dak Lak Dak Lak is one of the 4 highland provinces located in the middle of Vietnam, 1,500 km south of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. It is bordered by Gia Lai Province in the North, Song Be Province in the South, Nha Trang Province in the East and Cambodia in the West. Its elevation is between 400-800 meters above the sea level. Administratively, the province is divided into districts. Each district is divided into communes and each commune has a number of villages within it. The province consists of 17 districts and a capital city with a total population of 1.515 million persons of which 497,000 persons (30,3%) belong to ethnic minority groups who mostly live in the rural areas in the uplands. The vast majority of households are Kinh (70,3%), Ede (15,52%), Mnong (3,98%), Tay (2,54%) and other groups (7,66%) Table 1: Population of Dak Lak Name of Districts No of communes Population (person) Density (person/km 2) Total 168 1,515,367 77,57 Buon Ma Thuot City 18 217,613 830,58 Ea Hleo District 9 69,348 51,90 Ea Sup District 5 24,150 13,80 Krong Nang

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