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Fruits and Vegetables in Vietnam - International Food Policy ...

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Storage capacity for exporters is much larger than those of domestic traders. Compar<strong>in</strong>g<br />

exporters, average storage capacity is nearly 4 times greater <strong>in</strong> the North (434 tons) than <strong>in</strong> the South<br />

(112 tons). By contrast, domestic traders <strong>in</strong> both North <strong>and</strong> South Viet Nam have storage capacities of<br />

about 49 tons on average.<br />

Generally, fruit <strong>and</strong> vegetable traders plan to acquire no new l<strong>and</strong> for their bus<strong>in</strong>esses needs<br />

over the next couple years. Overall, with the exception of exporters located <strong>in</strong> the North, most traders<br />

(95 percent) have enough l<strong>and</strong> available for their bus<strong>in</strong>esses operations.<br />

Expected l<strong>and</strong> use by fruit <strong>and</strong> vegetable traders <strong>in</strong> Viet Nam will rema<strong>in</strong> relatively<br />

unchanged at about 1.1 hectares of l<strong>and</strong>, on average (see Table 4-4). In general, crop production area<br />

is projected to <strong>in</strong>crease to 72.7 percent of l<strong>and</strong> area from 67.4 percent at present, unused l<strong>and</strong> area is<br />

expected to decl<strong>in</strong>e from 11.2 percent to 9.2 percent, <strong>and</strong> presumably due to misallocation, agroprocess<strong>in</strong>g<br />

related l<strong>and</strong> is expected to decl<strong>in</strong>e as a proportion of total l<strong>and</strong> area from 17.7 percent to<br />

14.3 percent of l<strong>and</strong> area.<br />

5 Labor<br />

5.1 Workforce characteristics<br />

Fresh fruit <strong>and</strong> vegetable exporters <strong>and</strong> large domestic traders employ about 47 people on<br />

average. Exporters typically employ more workers <strong>and</strong> pay higher wages than domestic traders.<br />

Traders <strong>in</strong> the South, also generally pay higher wages than their competitors located <strong>in</strong> the North.<br />

While most traders employ family members, only 43 percent of the bus<strong>in</strong>esses <strong>in</strong> the sample<br />

employ skilled labor. Exporters <strong>and</strong> domestic traders located <strong>in</strong> the South have the highest proportion<br />

of skilled workers <strong>in</strong> their work force, <strong>and</strong> pay higher wages than their counterparts <strong>in</strong> the North.<br />

Overall, 38 percent of the fresh fruit <strong>and</strong> vegetable traders <strong>in</strong> the sample employ unskilled<br />

permanent workers. Exporters <strong>and</strong> Southern traders typically have a higher proportion of unskilled<br />

workers <strong>in</strong> their work force than domestic traders <strong>and</strong> traders <strong>in</strong> the North. Conversely, domestic<br />

traders <strong>in</strong> the North <strong>and</strong> exporters <strong>in</strong> the South, pay higher wages to temporary laborers than to their<br />

unskilled workers. The difference <strong>in</strong> wage may reflect differences <strong>in</strong> labor markets or hir<strong>in</strong>g practices.<br />

Often firms hire unskilled workers on a permanent basis at a higher than temporary labor wage <strong>in</strong><br />

order to reta<strong>in</strong> good employees.<br />

F<strong>in</strong>ally, nearly 86 percent of traders of fresh fruits <strong>and</strong> vegetables also hire temporary<br />

laborers. Temporary laborers, hired on a part-time or seasonal basis, are often vital to firms because of<br />

seasonal or otherwise regular or irregular temporary <strong>in</strong>creases <strong>in</strong> trad<strong>in</strong>g or process<strong>in</strong>g volumes. On<br />

average, fresh fruit <strong>and</strong> vegetable traders hire 32.6 temporary laborers. Although the work is seasonal<br />

or part-time, laborers are usually employed for a total period of about 6 months per year (3.6 days per<br />

week). Exporters also typically hire a larger number of temporary laborers (105.9) than do domestic<br />

Chapter 4. Fruit <strong>and</strong> Vegetable Traders Page 4-4

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