Farmers education and farm productivity in angiang province

VIETNAM THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM-NETHERLANDS PROJECT FOR M.A ON DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS FARMERS' EDUCATION AND FARM PRODUCTIVITY IN ANGIANG PROVINCE BY PHAN TRUNG KY A Thesis Submitted i

VIETNAM THE NETHERLANDS

VIETNAM-NETHERLANDS PROJECT FOR M.A ON DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

FARMERS' EDUCATION AND FARM

PRODUCTIVITY IN ANGIANG PROVINCE

BY

PHAN TRUNG KY

A Thesis Submitted in A Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements for The Degree of

Master Of Arts in Development Economics

SUPERVISOR: TRAN THI BEN

HO CHI MINH CITY MAY2002

TR~lb'tiG D~) li;9C 1\!r.!!i-;f'l

T HAiil"l PliO HO Cli f ; , t.!>: i

TrmvtiN SJ\V-b~HttOC

First and foremost, I would like to give all my thanks to all teaching staff, professors, and lecturers of the Vietnam-Netherlands M.A Project on Development Economics Thanks

to them, my knowledge and interest in economic issues are better off

I would like to express my thanks to my academic supervisor- Mrs Tran Thi Ben, who has advised me many good points and given me helpful encouragement in the process of writing this thesis

I am really indebted to my classmates, close friends with whom I had a really interesting time discussing our topics

I am also grateful to all farmers and local authorities in Angiang, who facilitated my field survey

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to all members of my family, my parents, who give me all their love and encouragement through the time writing this thesis

Date 30 January, 2002

PHAN TRUNG KY

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition and types of education

2.2 Empirical Evidence on the relationship between Education

and Farm Productivity

2.2.1 Vietnamese evidence

2 2 2 Evidence from developing world

2.3 The role of education in agricultural production

ii iii

2 4.1 Technical and Allocative Efficiency 11

2.4.2 Education in case oftechnological change 12

2 5.1 Frontier Production Function Approach 13

2.5.2 Non-frontier Production Function Approach 14

2 7.2 Whose Education in the household affects farm productivity? 15

CHAPTER 3: EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTION IN ANGIANG PROVINCE

3 I Introduction about Angiang province

4 I General information about the winter-spring and summer-autumn 26

4 2 5 The survey and sample design

4.3 Estimation of the results

4 3 I Testing the representative of the sample

4 3 2 Empirical results

4 3 2.1 Regression results

4.3.2.2 Comments and diagnostic tests

4.3.2.2.1 Normality test of residuals

4.3.2.2.2 Heteoscedasticity test

4.3.2.2.3 Multicolliinearity test

4.4 Economic meaning of the results

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Estimated effects of education on agricultural productivity Africa 7 Table 2.1 A: Supplementary information on studies of education and 8 Table 2.2: Summary of empirical estimates of technical inefficiency 9 Table 3.1: The share of GDP in Angiang and Vietnam in I998 17 Table 3.2: The share of GDP of Angiang province, period I990-I999 17 Table 3.3: The agricultural structure of Angiang, I996-2000 18 Table 3.4: The Value Added of Agriculture, I996-2000 19 Table 3.5: Cultivated areas and output of cultivation, period I975-2000 19 Table 3.6: The structure of value of cultivation of Angiang province 20 Table 3 7: Productivity of some agricultural products (Quintal/hectare) 21 Table 3.8: The number and output of some main livestock of Angiang province 21 Table 3.9: Fishery Culture Area and Fishery Output, period I990-2000 22

Table 4.1 : Sown areas, Output of II districts in Angiang, 2000 32 Table 4.2: Descriptive Statistics of Output-Input Variables 34 Table 4.3: Descriptive Statistics of Output-Input Variables (Logarithm) 34 Table 4.4: Descriptive Statistics of Age and Education Variables 35

Table 4.7: R-squared ofRegression among independent variables 38 Table 4.8: Implications ofthe regression results for the economic 42 Table 4.9: Implications of the regression results for the economic 44

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Production vis-a-vis the Production Frontier

Figure 2: Frontier and Average Production Function

Figure 3: Structure of Education of Angiang province, 1976-2000

Figure 4: Normality distribution of residual

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ADB : Asian Development Bank

AFTA : ASEAN Free Trade Agreement

GOP : Gross Domestic Product

GNP :Gross National Product

LDCs : Less Developed Countries

UNDP :United Nations Development Funds

VLSS : Vietnam Living Standard Survey

CHAPTER!

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem Statement

Many recent studies have shown that education is one of the main factors of human capital which contribute to the productivity of workers and to modern economic growth (Schultz, 1995) Nowadays, in the agriculture, advanced technologies are applied largely and the traditional agriculture is step by step replaced by the modern agriculture

In most developing countries, agricultural production is a very important sector It is widely accepted that an increase in agricultural productivity requires more complex technology, and to adapt to such environment farmers must have better education With modern agricultural practices, farmers' education becomes more important Mellor (1976) considers education in rural areas is the main factor to improve agricultural productivity in any strategy

In Vietnam nearly 70 per cent of population still get income from agricultural activity (Que, 1998:2) and agriculture is considered as 'the backbone of the Vietnamese economy' (as a report of ADB) In the Mekong Delta, Angiang province has the highest agricultural output, with 2.35 million tons of paddy in the year 2000 The share of the agricultural sector in GDP is 44.5 per cent in the year 2000 (the Sixth Angiang Communist Party Conference Report 2001) Still heavily relying on agricultural production, an increase in farm productivity plays a very important role in economic development in Angiang province

The reason to improve the productivity of agriculture is, as a report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development presented in March 29- Hanoi, most of agricultural products of Vietnam are less competitive than the those of our neighboring countries like Thailand, China, Indonesia, all are due to the low productivity of agriculture sector and it leads to high costs The situation will be worsened as Vietnam joining the A SEAN Free Trade Agreement [AFT A] in 2006

A question arises is how to improve agricultural productivity Lying in the region which has the lowest level of education (Tuoi Tre, 2001 ), the Angiang authorities meet many difficulties in applying the new method of farming for all farmers and in diversifying the crops In exploring for the factors affecting the agricultural productivity, this paper will examine the relationship between farmer education and farm productivity

in Angiang province

1.2 Objectives of the Study

To make clear the relationship between farmers' education and farm productivity, this paper will try to answer the following questions:

a) Do additional years of schooling have significant positive effects on farm productivity?

b) Do the first five years of schooling have stronger effects on farm productivity than additional years?

c) Does farm productivity depends on the education of the household head?

d) Does non-formal education have significant positive effects on farm productivity?

1.3 Data

The data for the present study comes from a sample survey of 113 rural households in three districts of Angiang province in the year 2000 by the author Two crops, the winter-spring crop and the summer-autumn crop, were chosen The following data was collected from each household: crop production; education and the age of the household head and other household members; various direct inputs for grain production, including sown areas, number of plots, amount of farm labor in the household, chemical fertilizer, pesticides; capital stocks owned by households, the attitude of farmers to farm-encouragement program on: TV, radio, farmer groups, and neighbor

In the thesis, secondary data are also used The data are derived from Angiang Statistical Yearbooks, Vietnam Statistical Yearbooks, and reports of local authorities This kind of information will make clear the problem and give out the general picture of Angiang province

3

1.4 Methodology

Quantitative methods are applied in the thesis To answer the above research questions, the method of econometric model formulation is used The software MFIT 386 and Stata 6.0 are used to run ordinary least squares (OLS) regression Moreover, statistical and tabular methods are employed to identify the appropriate form of the model and to review the distribution of variables

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This is one of the main chapters of the thesis The chapter will present the theoretical issues and evidence concerning the relationship between farmer education and farm productivity This chapter is mainly based on the researches of Weir (1999), Nguyen and Cheng (1999), Hussain and Byerlee (1995), and some other authors

Chapter 3: Education and Agricultural Production in Angiang

This chapter is review of the situation of education and agricultural production in Angiang province

Chapter 4: Relationship between Education and Farm Productivity in Angiang Province

This is the main part of the thesis This chapter will explain and analyze the relationship between farmer education and farm productivity in Angiang province based

on the 113-household-survey in 3 districts

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Suggestions

The final chapter will draw some conclusions and suggest some solutions

CHAPTER2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The chapter will present the theoretical issues and evidence concerning the relationship between farmer education and farm productivity First of all, it will introduce some basic concepts relevant to education Because the available materials for study are limited this chapter is mainly based on the researches of Weir (1999), Nguyen and Cheng (1999), Hussain and Byerlee (1995), and some other authors

2.1 Definition and types of education

Gillis at al (1996) defined "education broadly as all forms of human learning or more narrowly as the process that occurs in specialized institutions called "schools" Cotlear (1990) classified education into three types: formal, non-formal, and informal

Formal education takes place in schools and usually involves young people who have not yet begun their working lives Formal education may equip farmers with specific or general knowledge, which increases farm productivity

Non-formal education can be thought of as organized programs of learning that takes place outside schools Often the participants are adults Programs are usually shorter, more narrowly focused and more concerned with applied knowledge than programs of formal education It may be used to impart information about innovations or sound practices

Informal education is learning that takes place outside any institutional framework

or organized program People learn many important things at home, on the job, and in the community Informal education may serve mainly to form attitudes, beliefs and habits

All three types of education are very important in the diffusion of innovations in agricultural production Formally educated farmers may take the initiative in the adoption

of innovations Other farmers may observe the practices of formally or non-formally educated farmers and copy them

2.2 Empirical Evidence on the relationship between Education and Farm

Productivity

2.2.1 Vietnamese evidence

5

Till now, few empirical studies were available to explain the effects of education

in Vietnamese agriculture Much of the recent research may be criticized on the grounds

of poor measurement of education variables and small sample size However, they have provided some insight into the relationship between education and farm productivity

Lien, et al (Nhon, 2001:26) built a model in the Cobb-Douglas production form, showing the responses of rice output to changes in their chosen variables The data used are from the VLSS of 1992-1993 He reports that the changes in rice output are positive

to years of education of household head

Binh (2000) examined the effect of farm size on rice productivity in the Mekong Delta The data was collected from Tiengiang, Dongthap, Cantho and Angiang province

on the 1999 winter-summer rice crop She concludes that the education level and the use

of fertilizers had positive effect on output value of peasants

Minh (2000) constructed a paddy production function to examine the use of fertilizer in the Mekong Delta He concludes that years of education have positive effect

on rice yield in the Mekong Delta

The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the benefits of education on farm productivity There is at present no convincing direct evidence to quantify the magnitude

of effects of education upon crop output in rural Vietnam Through the research in Angiang province, this paper will focus on this aim

2.2.2 Evidence from developing world

The relationship between education and farm productivity has been studied in many developing countries In Africa, many studies have focused on Sub-Saharan based

on the agricultural production functions to estimate the effects of education on farm productivity However, the impact of education ranges widely, from highly positive to

negative As presented in the Table 2.1 and Table 2.1A, two studies by Moock (1981) and Owens (1999) estimated that, on average, four years of schooling only increases 2 per cent in output, especially, Hopcraft (1974) found that, four years of education has negative impact on agricultural productivity However, Appleton (2000, p.7) estimated from the Table 2.1 and shows that, on average, four years of schooling leads to 10 per cent increase in agricultural production

In Asia, as summarized in Table 2.2, by using the frontier production approach, most studies found that education plays a very important role in reducing agricultural inefficiency

Explaining for the wide range of effect of education on farm productivity, Weir (1999) summarizes the studies of Lockheed, Jamison and Lau (1980) with the suggestions that in traditional agriculture, the role of education is less important, while in modernizing agriculture, education tends to be more important on increasing farm productivity

Table 2.1: Estimated effects of education on agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya

8 +years: 0.12 (0.67) Kenya

(Bevan, Collier and

Tanzania

Apparent typo in reported equation;

Burkina Faso

has large positive effect

Zimbabwe

Source: Tablel, page 37, Simon Appleton 2000

Area and Study

variables

acre

(Hopcraft, 1974)

post primary

Households

(Weir, 1999)

Mugerwa, 1996)

education

(Owens, 1999)

Source: Table AI, page 38, Simon Appleton 2000

Table 2.2: Summary of empirical estimates of technical inefficiency and its causes in Asian Agriculture

Source, location and

Planting method**

Lingard eta! (1993)

Water problem(+)*

2.3 The role of education in agricultural production

According to Weir (1999:4), education affects labor productivity by its cognitive and non-cognitive effects She said that cognitive effect is the "transmission of specific information as well as the information of general skills and proficiencies", and non-cognitive effect is the "changes in attitudes, beliefs and habits" In the case of farmers, she said that when the ability of numeracy and literacy increased, they can make choices better when choosing inputs and outputs Kowsar P Chowdhury found that 'better-educated farmers absorb new information quickly and are more innovative'

2.4 Economic Efficiency and Technical Change

Hussain and Byerlee (1995) found that education may not only reduce economic inefficiencies by helping farmers move "quickly" to "a new equilibrium" but also 'increase farm productivity by accelerating the rate of adoption of new technologies" which make the production frontier shift outward Weir (1999:5) indicated three types of inefficiency and the role of education in improving the situations First is technical inefficiency, in this case education will help the farmer move toward the production frontier Second is the allocative inefficiency, in this case education will help the farmer choose the best position in the production frontier to maximize the profit by moving along the frontier Third is "a special type of allocative inefficiency", in this case education will help the farmer to shift to the higher production frontier, she suggests this case is caused by "failure immediately to adopt new technologies or inputs"

As figure 1 shows, at the point B, the farmer is neither technically nor allocatively efficient On the production frontier, the farmer achieved technical efficiency, for example the point T At the point A, the farmer is both technical and allocative efficiency When new technology is introduced the production frontier shifts outward, farmers move to produce at point I where they are both technical and allocative efficiency

Figure 1: Production vis-a-vis the Production Frontier

(Single input/ single output case) Source: Figure 1, page 6, Weir (1999)

2.4.1 Technical and Allocative Efficiency

11

Sadoulet and De Janvry (1995) indicated that 'efficiency of a production unit may

be defined as how "effectively" it uses variables resources for the purpose of profit maximization, given the best production technology available, the level of fixed factors z, and product p and factor px prices' They also decomposed efficiency into two sources: technical efficiency and allocative efficiency

According to Ali and Byerlee (1991, Weir 1999) allocative inefficiency is caused

by 'failure to choose the most cost-efficient combination of inputs' and the 'inappropriate timing or method of input application' causes technical inefficiency They also indicated that when allocative efficiency is achieved 'the cost to produce a given output is minimized' and when technical efficiency is achieved the output cannot be increased without the increase in input

Ali and Byerlee (1991) also suggested a "further inefficiency" caused by the

"fixed factors of production or economies of scale" In the case of farmers, "fixed factors

of production" can be seen as the existence of limit of cultivatable land, constrants in the credit market, etc

Accroding to Weir (1999), when a new technique or a new input is introduced to the farmer, at first, they may be be technically inefficient "as they learn to use the new

innovation"; and they may be allocatively inefficient as they try with appropriate new inputs Thus, the role of education is to reduce the inefficiency "at all stages in the adoption process"

2.4.2 Education in case of technological change

According to Weir (1999:8), 'technical progress of farmers in a particular area may be measured by the proportion of the population to take up new innovations or by the quantities of modem inputs, such as fertilizer, which are used' And she suggests that panel data are needed to 'fully document the process of innovation'

The role of education in four stages of agricultural technology adoption (Psacharopoulos and Woodhall, 1985; and Heyneman's, 1983) are described as follow:

Stage 1: Traditional farming, in this stage 'information is passed from farther to son' Thus, a little or no schooling is required

Stage 2: Single input adoption, to understand instructions and to adjust quantities

of new input, farmers need basic numeracy and literacy

Stage 3: Adoption of multiple input, some basic knowledge is needed, so 'more than literacy and numeracy are necessary'

Stage 4: Irrigation-based farming, in this stage, 'the farmers must make complex calculation of effects of changes in crops and weather' Thus, more education is required

Weir (1999:8) also suggests three reasons for the usefulness of education after new technology was introduced: firstly, 'those with schooling tend to be more affluent and are in less danger of starvation if a prospective innovation is unsuccessful'; secondly, farmers who have more education in a area are easy to be chosen as an example to 'test innovation'; and thirdly, educated farmers react to risk better when they use new inputs, crops or methods

2.5 Frontier and non-frontier approach

13

The effects of education on productivity have two major approaches: the and non-frontier approach Weir (1999:8) suggests that the two approaches be chosen depend on the research question of the study She said if the author wants to estimate coefficient on schooling in the production function, non-frontier approach is enough But

frontier-if the author wants to measure the magnitude and causes of inefficiency, the frontier approach will satisfy those conditions Figure 2 shows the difference between frontier and non-frontier approach In this figure, the dotted line is the average (non-frontier) production function and the solid line is the frontier production function

Figure 2: Frontier and Average Production Function

Source: Weir (1999), Figure 3, page 9

2.5.1 Frontier Production Function Approach

In the frontier approach, technical inefficiency is measured by the deviation from the production frontier (Hussain and Byerlee, 1995) The frontier production function may be more suitable to the study of effects of education on the best-practice farmers in the sample (Phillips and Marble, 1986: Weir 1999)

Hussain and Byerlee ( 1995) contend that the managerial characteristics of an individual farmer, such as technical knowledge and skills, education and contacts, as well

as to institutional factors (farm size, tenancy, access to credit and supply of inputs) relates

to their level of technical inefficiency

Therefore, a two- stage process is used (Hussain and Byerlee 1995):

Yn= f(X,E)+un,un=h(M), Where: Y is output, X is vector of inputs under farmer's control, E is the set of environmental variables not directly under farmer's control, un is the measure of an individual farmer's technical inefficiency and M is set of non-conventional inputs, reflecting farmer's managerial skills and institutional environment

Hussain and Byerlee (1995) found that in the frontier approach the results are very sensitive and it is 'difficult to apply in practices', compare to the non frontier approach, this is the disadvantage of this approach Ali and Byerlee (1991, Weir: 1999) advise that production frontier should be used on the small area to decrease difference in environmental factors

2.5.2 Non-frontier Production Function Approach

In the non-frontier approach, all variables are included directly in the production function, including conventional inputs, non-conventional inputs and environmental variables The production function: Y= f(X,M,E) (Note that E, X, E are defined as in the frontier approach) Hussain and Byerlee (1995) found that 'this approach allows for the interaction effects of the conventional and non-conventional variables', however, they also suggested the disadvantage of this approach that 'it does not provide an absolute measure of technical inefficiency' In this paper, the author uses this approach to answer all the research questions mentioned above, because this approach is simple and sufficient

2.6 Estimation Issues

2.6.1 How Much Education is needed?

A study in China by Nguyen and Cheng (1999) show that: first three years of education of household head has more effect on farm productivity than subsequent years Weir (1999) found that four to six years of education has large effect on farm productivity in Ethiopia while more than six years of education has negative effect

2.6.2 Whose Education in the household affects farm productivity?

In developing countries, data on income are largely measured at the household level, but educational data are measured at the individual level Therefore, the difficulty arises is: whose education in the household affects farm income or farm productivity? As Table 2.1 shows, Owen (1999) and Bigsten (1984) used education of household head in their studies to measure the effect of education on productivity, while Weir (1998) used education of most educated farmers (Table 2.1) According to Weir (1999) information

on education of household head, or average education levels of all adult household members, or years of schooling of only those household members engaged in agricultural production are used in most studies but average education levels of all household members is sometimes used A study in Ghana by Dean Jolliffe (1997), using a sample of 3,200 households, concluded that average level of schooling is suitable for estimating farm and off-farm income However, Nguyen and Cheng (1999) used both education levels of household head and average education levels of other household workers when they studied the effects of education on farm income in rural China In this paper, the author used the model based on the model of Nguyen and Cheng

CHAPTER3 EDUCATION AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN ANGIANG

PROVINCE 3.1 Introduction about Angiang province

Angiang is a province in the western region of South Vietnam It borders with Cambodia Sharing 8.5 per cent of the total 4 millions hectares of the Mekong River Delta, Angiang is one of the largest province in the area It has 11 districts, including 138 villages Agriculture land in the province was 250,383 hectares in 1999, of which 93 per cent land was used to grow paddy Angiang is covered mainly by plain of alluvium Lying the monsoon tropical zone with the temperature ranging from 21°C to 36°C, the weather in Angiang is divided into two seasons: rainy season and dry season Moreover, located in the downstream of the Mekong River, floods always occur in rainy season In the peak of the flooding season, most of the land (70 per cent) in the province is under water, except some parts of two mountainous districts The flooding season starts from early July and ends early of December Therefore, floods not only affect most activities

of the people in the region but also production activities

Angiang has one of the largest populations in the region In 1999, there were about 2.1 millions people residing in Angiang and its population growth rate was 1.8 percent per year The rate of population density in Angiang was around 619 people per square

km 81 per cent population lived in rural areas and 98 per cent of the area was rural Paddy production is the main economic activity The province is inhabited by the Kinh (92 per cent of the total population), the Khmer (5 per cent), the Cham (1.5 per cent) and the Chinese (1.5 per cent)

17

agriculture in Angiang was 48 per cent, while the whole country was 27 per cent In period 1991-1995, the average growth rate of GDP of the province was 9 per cent (8.2 per cent for the whole Vietnam), and the value of GDP for agriculture was about 55-60 per cent GDP of the province (Table 3.2) Clearly, agricultural production has played a very important role in economic development in Angiang

Table 3.1: The share of GDP in Angiang and Vietnam in 1998 (%)

Agriculture

Industry

Service

Angiang 47.59 11.95 40.45

The whole country

27

32

41 Source: Report by Department of Angiang Agricultural and Rural Development, 2001 Table 3.2: The share ofGDP of Angiang province, period 1990-1999 (%)

Year Agriculture Industry Service

Source: Angiang Statistical Yearbooks 1998 and 1999

In 1976, agricultural output of Angiang province was about 500 thousand tons (converted into paddy), in 1988 output reached 1 million tons, and in 1994 output was over 2 millions tons (Report by Department of Angiang Agricultural and Rural Development, 2001) Thus, it took ten years to double output, and then, it took only six years to double output

Big investments in irrigation systems and alum cleaning have reclaimed soil with only one unstable crop becoming two stable crops From 1988 to 1992, Angiang had invested VND 86 billions in irrigation systems, and from 1996 to 1998, Angiang invested VND 345,513 millions in irrigation systems (Van, 2000) According to Due (2000), up to the year 2000, Angiang had the systems of irrigation with 7,000km Besides, Angiang authorities, in all levels, carried out the agricultural encouragement policies continuously This helps the farmers have the knowledge of science to apply in agriculture (Van, 2000)

To develop the rural area (98 per cent of the area), Angiang authority has paid a close attention in developing the rural transportation and rural electrification In the year

2000, Angiang had 3,200krn-country road, and 2,200 bridges; 70 per cent households use electricity (Due, 2000)

Structure of agriculture in Angiang:

The share of livestock, aquatic products, and forestry was very low and tended to reduce in recent years, while the share of cultivation takes a large share and tends to be stable (see Table 3.3)

Table 3.3: The agricultural structure of Angiang, 1996-2000 (%)

Agricultural services 10.45 9.92 10.47 7.82 8.25 7.61 Fishery production 10.94 12.49 11.66 9.46 9.86 9.85

Source: Report by Department of Angiang Agricultural and Rural Development, 2001 However, as Table 3.4 show, the dominant share of cultivation is due to strong increase in cultivation, while the increase in livestock, aquatic products, and forestry are lower

Table 3.5: Cultivated areas and output of cultivation, period 1975-2000

Unit: Areas: hectares; Output: thousand tons

Source: Report by Department of Angiang Agricultural and Rural Development, 2001

As the Table 3.5 describes the cultivated area increased continuously from 233,878 hectares in the year 1975 to 498,338 hectares in the year 2000 The increase is due to the reclaimation in the Longxuyen quadrilateral by developing thick ditch system, bringing fresh water from the Tien River and the Hau River to clean alum This made

agricultural output increase from 4 72,429 thousand tons of paddy (converted into paddy)

in the year 1975 to 2,379,907 thousand tons in the year 2000

3.2.1.2 The structure of cultivation

In the period 1996-2000, the structure of cultivation has changed The share of paddy production was reduced from 73 per cent in the year 1995 to 68 per cent in the year 2000; vegetable and beans increased their share from 16.18 per cent to 18.21 per cent in the same period (see Table 3.6)

Multi-year industrial crops seem not to be suitable to the area because every year most land flooded under water for two to four months, their share is the smallest in the structure of cultivation (see Table 3.6)

Table 3.6: The structure of value of cultivation of Angiang province(%)

Source: Report by Department of Angiang Agricultural and Rural Development, 2001

3.2.1.3 Productivity of some agricultural products

As Table 3 7 describes most of agricultural products have the increasing trend in productivity per hectare The winter-spring paddy crop had the highest yield per hectare, compare to the summer-autumn paddy crop However, the flood in 2000 affected the output per hectare of some agricultural products such as paddy (summer-autumn crop), corn, green beans, etc

2{

Table 3 7: Productivity of some agricultural products (Quintal/hectare)

Winter-spring (Rice) 40.00 40.00 52.27 55.51 65.19 62.66 Summer-autumn (Rice) 30.00 26.37 34.29 43.05 46.10 39.93

Table 3.8: The number and output of some main livestock of Angiang province

Buffaloes Cattles Pigs Poultry Output (head) (head) (head) (head) (Ton)

The number of livestock has fluctuated by changes in its price Nowadays, production

is to export, but the qualities of livestock are very low, and not compete in the world market The number of pigs has increased To keep the rural environment cleaner, the provincial authority prohibited raising poultry in the rivers or canals; this leads to the number of poultry reducing In Angiang, cattle and buffaloes are mainly raised to use to supply power for agricultural production However, in recent years, machines are used widely in the field, that is why the number of cattles or buffaloes is little changed (Table 3.8)

3.2.3 Aquatic product

Table 3.9: Fishery Culture Area and Fishery Output, period 1990-2000

Areas Output Raising Exploitation (Hectares) (Ton) (Ton) (ton)

Note: Output (fishery)= raising (fishery)+ exploitation (fishery)

In 1990, two frozen factories were built, it contributed to the consumption of aquatic products in Angiang province Raising fish developed Methods of raising fish in fields, pond, cage, spilled over, creating jobs for laborers and considerably increasing food for the society

Fisher households carry out fishery exploitation in the rivers and in the field in the flood season It contributes to a small income for households in the slack season,

especially in the flooding season The results from the survey of Tai (200 1, Table 4.3, page 38) showed that the share of fishing was 2 per cent of income source of household

in J\ngiang in 200 1

To sum up, the agricultural output of Angiang province is high, compare to other provinces in Vietnam However, in the time of market economy, production is for export, the quality of Vietnam agricultural products are still low As a result, prices of agricultural products are low and not stable Farmers in Vietnam in general and in Angiang in particular always meet many difficulties in deciding "what to produce"

3.3 Angiang's education

Education system in Vietnam: first level of education in Vietnam is pre-primary

education Children who are lower than age of six expected to enter this level Next, primary education takes five years, official entry age is 6 years old This is a compulsory for all children Next, lower secondary education takes 4 years Upper secondary education lasts three years Moreover, vocational education is available after primary and lower secondary education Vocational technical education and training system last from 0.5 to 4 years Tertiary education includes college education (3 years), university education ( 4 to 6 years) followed by postgraduate education (Vietnam Public Expenditure Review, volume 2, chapter on education)

Like some neighboring provinces, the floods from the Mekong River affect the operation of education system in Angiang In the flooding season, most schools are closed for 2 months because most schools and roads are flooded In some remote areas, pupils go to school by boats in this season At present, most schools in the province have

to start sooner than usual for two months to prevent the effect of floods Previously, in most rural areas, pupils had to travel more than 1 Okm to be in schools Transportation systems were very poor, and even bicycles could not move on the roads (Report by Department of Angiang Education and Training 1998) There are still many difficulties, such distant schools, and poor transportation systems (Em,2000) Parents may see the benefits of secondary schooling for their children in terms of the possibility for urban employment, and view primary education as a necessary input into secondary schooling But this is constrained by the perceived lack of job opportunities for secondary schools

graduates In the rural areas nowadays, parents just values schooling for their children because primary education generates cognitive skills (e.g basic literacy and numeracy) which are useful in agriculture There is a big gap in higher education in Angiang (see Table 3.10)

Traditionally, agricultural production needs a lot of workers In the harvesting season, a lot of pupils are forced to stop schooling to help their families This is another reason which leads to the rate of drop out of school high Direct cost of schooling was an important reason for delaying or drop out, along with the need to work for wages or care for sick or elderly household members (Em,2000)

Table 3.10: Angiang' education (unit: pupil)

llill Upper secondary

D Lower Secondary OPrimary

Figure 3: Structure of Education of Angiang province, 1976-2000

2000 242,779 108,626 33,361

Pre-school: in academic year 1985-1986, Angiang had 48 schools, with 743

classes and 23,357 pupils Many schools were temporary houses, pagodas The quality

of teaching was very low In academic year 1991-1992, because of many difficulties, such as salaries of kindergarten teachers paid by villages' budget, lack of teachers, classes, teaching instruments, the number of schools and pupils were reduced, 37 schools and 8,733 pupils respectively In academic year 1999-2000, number of schools increased

at present, in some remote areas, pupils have to pass more than 2km to reach school (Em, 2000)

Primary universality and illiterate abolishment made many progresses In December 1998, Angiang finished universal primary education sooner than schedule 2 years In the year 2000, 92.82 per cent of people aged 15-35 had been abolished illiteracy; 83.56 per cent pupils aged 14 had finished primary education (Em, 2000)

Lower secondary: in academic year 1985-1986, Angiang had 57,930 pupils learning in 1,191 classes In academic year 1999-2000, the number of pupils reached 108,626 pupils learning in 2,774 classes About 50 per cent people in the ages 11-15 attend school; 112 out of 138 villages have middle schools The quality of lower secondary education is improving continuously By the year 2000, 94.4 per cent teachers got the national standardization in teaching (Em, 2000)

Upper secondary education: In academic year 1985-1986, there were 1,558 pupils learning in 223 classes With the growth of rate 25-30 per cent per year, the number of pupils reached 33,361 and the classrooms reached 778 classes in academic year 1999-

2000 About 20 per cent people in the ages 15-17 attend school Every district has at least two upper secondary schools (Em, 2000)

However, in addition to progresses, Angiang's education and training still exhibited many shortcomings First, lack of schools, teachers, teaching instruments still took place

in many regions, especially in the regions near the border with Cambodia Most teachers

in this region must teach many classes and most of them coming from other regions (Em,2000)

CHAPTER4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FARMERS' EDUCATION AND FARM

PRODUCTIVITY IN ANGIANG PROVINCE 4.1 General information about the winter-spring and summer-autumn crop in 2000 and the sampling area

The two crops have been chosen to measure the income of farmers in 2000 (the reason for choosing the two crops will be mention in the following section) In this year, the winter- spring crop enjoyed good cultivation conditions due to the flood in 1999 bringing alluvial soil The summer-autumn crop met many difficulties in dealing with early floods Farmers had to harvest the crop sooner than expected The most important factor recently affecting the motive of the farmers is the fall of prices of most agricultural products, especially paddy, in recent year (Angiang Magazine, special issue Tan Ty new year 2001)

In the rural areas, the retail seller system has reached all farmers Because of competition among retail sellers, farmers easily buy a package of fertilizer or pesticides and pay later The baking system has focussed on rural areas Banks for the Poverty, Agricultural Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank, private credit cooperatives, etc have supplied credit for farmers The IPM method has reached farmer cooperatives In recent years, farmers have tended to use less fertilizers and pesticides than they used to This could prevent the crops from the attack of diseases or pests (All information in this paragraph drawn from the report of Angiang Agricultural and Rural Department, 2001 )

In the sampling areas, paddy production is the main agricultural activity Livestock takes a very small share in farm income Most of the households raise some pigs, chickens, and ducks Land concentration process has been taken place Farmers with skills and knowledge in agricultural production now have chances to own more land Due

to floods, the costs to grow fruit crops are expensive Thus, rice is the most popular crop

in such area Most households are in debt to the banks because of the fall in rice prices In

in the district own a larger land area 1.547 hectares, compare to 1.208 hectares in Chauthanh and 0.965 hectares in Chomoi Chauthanh borders with Longxuyen town It seems to be in between Chomoi and Thoaison

4.2 Model Specification

4.2.1 Variable to be the dependent variable

As the Table 1.1 shows, many authors, for example: Hopcraft (1974), Bigsten (1984), Weir (1998), and Appletion and Balihuta (1996) chose "combined crop output"

as dependent variable According to Nguyen and Cheng (1999, p.l49), 'the choice of a dependent variable depends on the definition of what each household is assumed to maximize' Thus, they said that total household income was chosen to be dependent variable, total farm income consists of farm income and non-farm income, farm income consists of the earnings from the sale of crops, animal and aquatic products, and non-farm income consists of earnings from off-farm activities and wages earned by household members working elsewhere In 2000, the share of agricultural service is 7.26 per cent GDP of Angiang Thus, farm income is still the main income of most Angiang farmers

In Angiang province, the value of crop or cultivation takes a large share of GDP (74.21 per cent), while animal and aquatic products take a small share of GDP (16 per cent) Therefore, farm income is assumed to be the value of cultivation The value of paddy production is assumed to be the value of farm income because paddy production takes 67,92 per cent income from cultivation In Angiang province, there are two main crops a year: winter-spring crop and summer-autumn crop It takes eight months for cultivation the two crops and the rest four months is the flooding season