Economic development is one of the key contents in the program on new rural development in Vietnam. Of the national criteria for new rural development, economic development is an important component, which 9 out of 19 criteria are related directly to. This article talks about some economic issues in new rural development in Vietnam, focusing on 3 major aspects involved directly with farmers’ economic activities, which the author considers pressing at present. | Some Economic Issues in New Rural Development. Some Economic Issues in New Rural Development in Vietnam at Present Nguyen Danh Son * Abstract: Economic development is one of the key contents in the program on new rural development in Vietnam. Of the national criteria for new rural development, economic development is an important component, which 9 out of 19 criteria are related directly to. This article talks about some economic issues in new rural development in Vietnam, focusing on 3 major aspects involved directly with farmers’ economic activities, which the author considers pressing at present. Those issues will cause a lot of impacts on new rural development in the coming time. They consist of: land-use and accumulation of farmland; consumption of agricultural products and linkage with farmers. Key words: Economic development; new rural development; agriculture; farmers; rural areas. 1. Land-use and accumulation of farmland Farmland is a fundamental means of production in agriculture. It is also viewed as an important indicator to differentiate agriculture and farmers from other economic fields and labor strata. Ones cannot be true farmers, if they are not attached with farmland, in the true sense of this category. Besides efforts and achievements, however, there are still burning problems relating to farmland and land-use in Vietnam; inadequacies in management of new rural development have resulted in a lot of negative corollaries for present and future. Generally, farmers are facing two big problems involved with farmland - a fundamental means of production - including: the cultivated area has been getting smaller; and smaller and land quality has been getting worse and worse. Reduction in the area of agricultural land is inevitable and is seen as a general law of development, due to urbanization and industrialization. Noticeably, industrialization and urbanization have been taking place vigorously and rapidly, dominating and sometimes preventing .
