Policies for Sustainable Development: The Commercialization of Smallholder Agriculture

Manfred Zeller, Susanne Ufer, Thi Tuyet Van Dinh, Thea Nielsen, Pepijn Schreinemachers, Prasnee Tipraqsa, Thomas Berger, Ai Van Le Thi, Alwin Keil, Thi My Dung Pham, Franz Heidhues and Camille Saint-Macary
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Camille Saint-Macary: LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres

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Abstract: Sustainable development requires a mix of policies that can simultaneously address social, economic and environmental objectives. While the preceding chapters of this book have focused on agricultural, environmental and socio-economic aspects and related policies, this chapter looks at the commercialization of smallholder agriculture and, in particular, the need to target the poor so as to enable them to better participate in market-oriented development. The mountainous regions of northern Thailand and northern Vietnam have witnessed a substantial transformation over the last two decades, turning as they have from largely subsistence-oriented to market-oriented agriculture. This development began in Thailand earlier than in Vietnam, but during the 2000s, smallholder agriculture in Vietnam also commercialized at a rapid rate, leading to an increase in farm incomes and a decline in poverty levels. Our main policy conclusion here is that the commercialization of agriculture can be conducive to a sustainable increase in smallholder incomes and reduction of poverty levels; however, policies aimed at addressing the environmental externalities caused by market participation must be combined with socially-oriented policies that target poorer segments of the population, especially in the areas of education, health, social assistance, political participation and non-subsidized credit, as well as infrastructure and market-oriented development policies aimed at long-run sustainability.

Keywords: Income; poverty; Vietnam; Thailand; market-oriented development; smallholder agriculture; Sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Published in Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Southeast Asia: Innovations and Policies for Mountainous Areas, pp.463-490, 2013

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01686716

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