ABSTRACT
Popularly known in Vietnam as the “Nine Dragons” Delta, the Mekong Delta is endowed with rich agricultural resources and has been the country’s “rice bowl” for centuries. There is, however, a growing consensus among the Vietnamese that development in the twenty-first century necessitates an upgrade of the effective, but little more than subsistence farming system operating across the region. Yet the Mekong Delta, though close to Hồ Chí Minh City, remains a peripheral district in Vietnam when it comes to economic development. This chapter is intended to examine the region’s physical and economic settings and outline its development opportunities and challenges. The main argument takes the position that development in the Delta is multifaceted and requires holistic approaches that facilitate consideration of the availability of physical resources, the sectoral division of the economy, the socio-economic structure, and the human agency as an interconnected whole. Special emphasis is placed on consolidating and improving regional linkages among households, enterprises, supporting agencies, and government management bodies as a first step in entering Subregional and global value chains.
