ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Land Use Dynamics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1534624
Market-Oriented Land Transfers in Rural Vietnam: Navigating Challenges for Sustainable and Equitable Development
Provisionally accepted
- School of Politics and Public Administration, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Market-oriented transfers of collectively owned rural land in Vietnam play a crucial role in promoting rural development, agricultural productivity, and broader socioeconomic transformation. This study explores the opportunities and challenges of these reforms within Vietnam’s unique socio-political context. Although economic liberalization since the Đổi Mới reforms of 1986 has enabled significant progress, issues such as tenure insecurity, corruption in land administration, and inequality in land market access continue to restrict outcomes—especially for smallholder farmers.Using a mixed-methods approach, the study integrates quantitative data from land transfer records and economic indicators with qualitative insights from interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted in the Red River Delta, Mekong Delta, and Central Highlands. Econometric models assess the influence of land transactions on agricultural productivity and rural income, while thematic analysis of FGDs captures local perspectives on governance, tenure concerns, and the social consequences of land reform.The findings reveal that market-oriented land transfers have positively impacted rural economies by enhancing productivity, encouraging investment, and increasing household incomes. However, risks of land concentration, marginalization of poorer farmers, and environmental degradation persist. Stakeholders highlighted key concerns around insecure tenure, opaque land valuation practices, and unequal access to land markets—all of which undermine the inclusiveness and sustainability of reforms.Drawing from comparative international experiences, including those of China and Rwanda, the study emphasizes the need for context-specific safeguards. Policy recommendations focus on strengthening land rights, improving transparency to combat corruption, promoting equitable access to land markets, and encouraging sustainable land use practices. Enhancing institutional capacity and involving international partners are also identified as critical for effective reform execution.In conclusion, while market-oriented land transfers in Vietnam have potential to drive economic and social progress, their long-term success depends on participatory policy formulation, fair implementation, and continuous monitoring. These efforts are essential to building a more inclusive, productive, and environmentally resilient rural land system.
Keywords: Market-oriented land transfers, Rural collective land, Land tenure security Vietnam land reforms, Rural Development, Sustainable land
Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Trang Nguyen1, Cai and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ngoc Minh Trang Nguyen1, School of Politics and Public Administration, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.