Untitled - Oxfam Blogs

Impacts of Price Hikes
on the Lives and Livelihoods
of the Rural Poor
Cu Hue Commune - Dak Lak: There are two existing cooperatives that are not operational.
The Đong Tam Cooperative was established in 2002 with 12 members, each contributing one million
VND to the cooperative’s registered capital. The original objective of the cooperative was to supply
seeds and other agricultural inputs to farmers as well as purchase agricultural products from them. At
the moment the cooperative no longer has any operations as the former Manager has left to establish
his own company. The Cooperative is taking legal steps to get dissolved.
The second cooperative covering six ethnic minority hamlets and one Kinh hamlet was established in
1998 with 30 million VND seed money supported by DANIDA. The objective was to build a new type
of cooperative to provide credit, training and technical assistance and promote craft village
development. In 2006, the Cooperative received a Government grant of 50 million VND to build its
office and increase its operational budget. However, due to management weaknesses the Cooperative
has not performed well and currently does not have any services available for farmers.
Given the poor performance of the two cooperatives, there is a tendency to form small scale more flexible
cooperation units without legal recognition or an “official stamp”. Since 2006, four such cooperation units
have been established with 10-12 member households each operating on a voluntary basis irrespective of
whether the households are rich or poor. The members share experiences, conduct training and contribute
one million VND each to a revolving fund with an interest rate lower than the regular bank rate. One units
has been able to develop a revolving fund of as much as 60 million VND. Additional cooperation units are
being proposed in several other hamlets of Cu Hue commune.
3.2 Features of Rural Poor’s Livelihoods and Consumption, Buying and Selling Patterns
The rural poor at the study sites lack land, quality labour (due to sickness, old age, multiple children, low
education levels and lack of knowledge and skills), access to support institutions and processes and so are
less able to benefit from development opportunities. Their agricultural output and sales are much lower than
those of the non-poor, so have to rely on selling their unskilled labour to supplement their incomes. 21
3.2.1 Rice Production Patterns
Figure 3.3 shows that household-level rice production patterns are appropriate to the choice of the study
sites:
• In Dien Bien most households including poor households are net rice sellers;
• In Dak Lak, most of households are net rice buyers (not producing enough rice or producing no
rice at all; selling maize or coffee or trading their labour for rice), except for a number of Êđê
households that produce enough wetland rice;
• In Quang Tri all households are net rice buyers (not producing enough rice or producing no rice
at all, or selling cassava to buy rice).
It should be noted that in Dien Bien most households grow wetland rice (except for a number of Thai
households that still grow upland rice). In Dak Lak most households grow wetland rice and in Quang Tri
the Vân Kiu farmers only grow upland rice.
21 More details about the poverty context of the study sites can be found in the “Participatory Poverty Monitoring of Selected Rural Communities in Viet Nam: Synthesis
Report 2007”, Oxfam and ActionAid Viet Nam, August 2008.
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