Traditionally an agricultural society, the most recent trend in Vietnam has been for farmers to abandon their traditional work for slightly higher-paying jobs.

The pressures of economic development in the country have led to a situation in which, for many, the hard work of farming has simply become unprofitable. Some farmers who own large plots of land not only have trouble selling their plots, they cannot even give them away.

Steve Jaffee, Coordinator of the World Bank Agriculture Department in Vietnam, was cited by Vietnam News Agency that over the past 25 years, Vietnamese farmers had over-achieved the task of feeding the nation. Now the situation was that the more rice they grew, the less profit they made.

At the local level this story can be seen in places like Dong Hung District, Thai Binh Province. This used to be an area known for land that would 'produce five tonnes of rice per hectare'. However, Tran Thi Nhung, a current resident of the area said that her last harvest was 170kg per sao (a measurement of land in the north equaling 360 square metres). With owned five sao, each earning her about VND850,000 (USD40.4). But after the cost of pesticides, water, plowing, electricity and seed, her net profit was just VND250,000 (USD11.9).

“Households that do not do the work themselves and hire labourers do not see any profit. These days the only families who go on raising crops are those who can't find better jobs," she said.

Nhung added that many of the men from her hometown have gone to the city to take on odd jobs such as motorbike drivers or porters. Women too, she said, often choose work as domestic help.

Nguyen Thi Chuan, of Binh Giang District, Hai Duong Province, has also reconsidered farming after more than 30 years. She said that her last crop yielded only 1.2 tonnes of rice for six sao, or 2,160 square metres, with a total value of around VND6 million (USD285.7).

“I spent roughly VND440,000 (USD20.95) on fertilizer, seed and nylon to prevent rodents from eating the crops. At the end I was left with just VND560,000. With two crops, at the end of the year I could only earn VND6.7 million (USD319),” she said.

“This year's crop was pretty good, so I might have made a profit. But my daughter also gave birth last year, so I had to hire labourers, which means that I saw none of the profit," she shared.

Land unprofitable to farm, impossible to sell, difficult to give away

Vu Thi Khuyen, of Hai Duong Province's Binh Giang District, said that she wanted to transfer 720 square metres of land so she could devote more time to working in the garment industry, which could earn her a salary of VND3.5 million (USD166.6) per month, but she found nobody who was interested in cultivating the land. She said that those who came to look complained that it was either too far from their homes or that the profits from farming were too low.

According to Mrs. Khuyen, in years past she would have been able to transfer her fields for 40-50kg of rice per sao. But now farmers are so reluctant to continue their work that it is difficult even to give land away for free.

Many local women have opted to do other labour, such as making brooms, which can earn them around VND60,000 per day, while some others choose to work for footwear or environmental protection companies, with annual salaries of around VND2 million, she said.

According to Nong Nghiep Viet Nam Newspaper, the situation of Mrs. Khuyen is not unique to her village, but indicates a trend that is occurring across the country.

Along the Ho Chi Minh Highway, in the central province of Quang Binh, hundreds of hectares of farmland lie idle, turned into grazing ground for cows and buffaloes. Nguyen Van Quoc, a resident of Quang Ninh District, said he abandoned his fields to become a construction worker, a job which can earn him VND150,000 per day, a much higher sum than he could make at farming.

In recent years agricultural land in Hanoi’s outlying districts, including Kim Chung Commune in Dong Anh District, have also been abandoned, their owners choosing to run businesses, take on wage labour or build hostels.

A survey of 117 farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta conducted by Can Tho University, found that few could earn a livelihood primarily from growing rice.

Steve Jaffee was also quoted by Vietnam News Agency as saying that the Government should have more policies to boost investment into the agricultural sector, reducing production costs for them and particularly pay more attention to jobs and income generation for farmers to encourage them return to farming.