Farm mechanization and its impact on labour use among rice farming households: an experience from thai binh province in Vietnam

Abstract

This study uses the primary data collected from 40 rice farming households in Thai Binh province principles to evaluate the current situation of farm mechanization and its impact on labour use in rice farming households. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this study bases on the small sample of rice farming households to analyze the situation of rice production including rice cultivation area, rice yield, production cost, and machinery application in rice farming activities. Moreover, with the application of a multiple regression model, this study affirms that farm mechanization encourages households to enlarge their rice farming scale as it helps to compensate for the shortage of farm labour as well as increase land productivity. At the same time, the movement of labour from the farm sector to the non-farm sector and land consolidation are some of the driving forces that speed up the farm mechanization process. In Thai Binh province, farm mechanization also plays a significant role in increasing farmer income as it supports family labourers to spend less time on farming but more time in doing off-farm work with higher earnings. Finally, based on the results of the analysis, this paper provides four policy implications that expect to the development of farm mechanization in Thai Binh particularly as well as in Vietnam generally.