Potential multifaceted agroforestry impacts on farming household’s livelihoods in Viet Nam: need to account for agroforestry type, magnitude and maturity for non-biased evaluation
Agroforestry is widely promoted in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia as a means to enhance smallholder farmers’ livelihoods and mitigate land degradation. However, studies assessing its impact on farmers often focus on field-scale evaluations and landscape-level potential rather than direct livelihood outcomes. This paper examines differences in farming system performance between agroforestry adopters and non-adopters in northwest Vietnam using propensity score matching (PSM) to quantify the average effect of agroforestry adoption on economic, environmental, and social indicators. Results show that households adopting agroforestry experience an average revenue increase of approximately 8 million VND per hectare per year (~$325). However, erosion outcomes appear counterintuitive, likely due to control groups being located on less erosion-prone land and the presence of immature trees in agroforestry systems, whose canopies have yet to reduce erosion effectively. A typology of adopters highlights a broad range of adoption pathways, potentially influencing PSM results. Six farming household types emerged, from “Off-farm income-dependent farmers” with minimal agroforestry integration to “Specialists mixed agroforesters” with high agroforestry adoption and varying input intensity levels. The study underscores the importance of contextual awareness in agroforestry research, advocating for improved control of agroforestry type, adoption proportions, and system maturity to better capture real-life farm-scale impacts.
Authors
Dang, T.T.T.,Mausch, K.,Nguyen, M.P.,Öborn, I.,Dahlin, S.,La, N.,Sckokai, P.,Chopin, P.
Publication year
2025
