ABSTRACT
Since the initiation of agricultural de-communalization in the early 1980s and its more recent acceleration by new land reforms, rural people in Vietnam have experienced great social changes. During this period, the peasant household economy has become the most important mode of production. This chapter describes some of these changes, identifies current problems faced by peasant households, and discusses them in the context of economic differentiation among households. The socio-economic changes which will occur as a consequence of the 1993 Land Law need to be examined in the context of the rapidly emerging market economy. On the one hand, privatization of agricultural services for providing inputs and marketing outputs may create income generating opportunities in the countryside which would alleviate the negative impact of landlessness. On the other hand the market mechanism of trading and the extension of credit may promote differentiation.
