Conversion of Agricultural Land and its Impact on Peasants in Hanoi Suburbs During Rapid Urbanization: A Case Study of Me Tri Commune

For the past fifteen years, Hanoi, the capital and second largest city of Vietnam, has spatially expanded, and the urban population rate has risen dramatically. The need to convert a great deal of agricultural land into industrial, commercial, and residential land has arisen to meet the challenges of this expansion. It is the aim of this paper to clarify the situation of conversion of agricultural land and its effects on peasants who have lost agricultural land in suburban areas of Hanoi. A bottom-up approach through household interviews was employed to examine the impact of conversion of agricultural land on peasants in a small-scale commune, Me Tri Commune, which is the case study of this research. The paper is composed of three parts. The first section highlights the rapid urbanization and policies of agricultural land recovery, especially compensation for loss of agricultural land, in Hanoi. The second section introduces agricultural land transition, agricultural land recovery and agricultural land compensation in Me Tri Commune from 2000 to 2007. It is acknowledged that the transition of Me Tri Commune from a rural area into an urbanized area at a rapid rate results in a deep transformation in the lifestyles and occupations of the peasants there, which gives rise to a great deal of problems and confusion. Three such problems that arose for peasants in Me Tri Commune during that period as a result of the process of agricultural land conversion included : a transition in labor, a decline in traditional foodstuff production, the use of compensation money, and future risks. Although most of the land that has been converted in Me Tri Commune during this urbanization was agricultural land and many peasants do not need to migrate from their own hometown, the research has clearly demonstrated that the challenges caused by agricultural land conversion in this commune have affected their lives greatly in every aspect.