DETERMINANTS OF FOREST PLANTATION ESTABLISHMENT IN VIETNAM: A CASE STUDY IN BAC KAN PROVINCE IN NORTHERN VIETNAM

Forestry has been identified by the Vietnamese government as an increasingly important factor contributing to the agricultural and rural development programs. This paper examines differences in demographic and economic characteristics of forest plantation and non-forest-plantation households in upland Vietnam and identifies factors that affect farmers' decisions about whether to establish a forest plantation from an economic point of view. The analysis is based on data from a survey of 360 households in rural Bac Kan province in northern Vietnam and is conducted using a logistic regression model. The analyses demonstrate a number of important conclusions: (i) forest plantation activities increase with farm households having a greater amount of land, labor and assets; (ii) farmers with guarantees of land rights are more likely to plant forests on their land; (iii) the household with more participants on extension and credit activities have positive effects on farmers' forest plantation decisions; and (iv) the household head with a higher education level has a positive influence on forest planting decisions; (v) Meanwhile, off-farm income has negative effects on farmers' forest plantation decisions. The results of the chapter also demonstrate that, in recent years, farmers' decisions regarding whether to plant forests have been based primarily on economic rather than ecological concerns. These findings provide important empirical evidence of the most influential factors to consider when policymakers design rural development interventions and of the need to focus on improving rural households' livelihoods in general when promoting long-term farm forestry production in Vietnam.