Farmers' Resistance to Agricultural Land Transformation in Vietnam
Keywords:
Land law, Farmers’ resistance, Agricultural land transformation, VietnamAbstract
The article's main objective is to examine why farmers resist and if the current land law of Vietnam can ensure the agricultural land rights of farmers. The article's main argument is that there is an unequal power relation for a fair negotiation on land acquisition in the current land law and policies. This study applied a qualitative approach using documentary research, case studies, and interviews as main research tools whilst the theories of "moral economy" and "power of exclusion" will be applied to explain the main argument of this article. The research findings revealed that in the current land law, the government still has the absolute power to decide when, where, and how much agricultural land can be acquired. At the same time, there is no effective and equal negotiation system for farmers to negotiate on land decision-making issues. Moreover, the national policy on industrialization and modernization outweighs small farmer’s priorities and opens up the right to access farm land, allowing the private sector (with a helping hand of the local authority) to occupy land and evict local farmers with below market-price compensation. Consequently, there is a rising awareness of unfairness and injustice among farmers. The study suggested that various political agencies and leaders should comprehensively discuss and revise the law to harmonize the interests of different stakeholders and increase political space for all people.
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