Land use and planning has emerged as a worrying issue as climate change and risign sea level threaten global food security. Vietnam is not an exception. Worse still the country’s cultivable land keeps shrinking as a result of industrialization and urbanization. “Converting a large area of rice paddy for other purposes in a short period of time without thorough consideration will negatively impact the long-term economic development, production, the lives of part of the population and threaten food security,” said Ton Gia Huyen, the former Chief of the Land Administration Department.

Tran Dinh Vien, Director of the Vietnam Economics Institute attributed the shrunking farm land to the lack of proper land planning and use. In fact, a great amount of arable land has been used for the industrial parks, which create jobs for only a small part of rural population. As a result, many farmers end up living difficult lives. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Dung, former Vice Chairman of the NA’s Economic Committee believed that a strategy for master planning and economical use of land is the key to land use efficiency. “The use of rice land needs thorough consideration. Food is an issue of not 10 or 20 years but hundreds of years ahead. It takes thousands of years to formulate fertile land for agriculture,” Dung added.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Manh Hien said that it requires the efforts of the whole political system to cope with outstanding issues in the use of rice land. He emphasized the significance of zoning rice growing areas and defining responsibilities and conditions for conversion into other purposes. “The issue is high on the government’s agenda. The immediate solution is that each location will do rice zoning, create incentive policies to support farmers and localities to plan rice growing areas,” he said.

The poliburo has adopted a land use plan until 2020, under which 3.8 million ha will be reserved for rice growing to ensure long-term national food security and export. To this end, the identification of rice land is of particular importance. There should be incentive policies to help improve infrastructure, increase budget for rice growing localities, reduce tax and subsidize rice cultivation. This is aimed to encourage farmers adhere to rice growing and keep their land. The government should also tighten regulations on the establishment of industrial parks, tourist spots and golf courses. It is important to have a synchronous strategy to preserve rice land while the population keeps growing, and industrialization and urbanization are expanding.

 
Huy Nam