Does Adaptation to Saltwater Intrusion Improve the Livelihoods of Farmers? Evidence for the Central Coastal Region of Vietnam

Abstract

Saltwater intrusion poses severe threats to rice farming in Vietnam. Farmers can adapt by producing other crops or switching to other production models. This study evaluates the impact of implementing different saltwater-intrusion-adaptation strategies on farmers’ livelihoods by applying propensity score matching to cross-sectional survey data for 414 farmers in the Central Coastal region of Vietnam. We consider both economic and social indicators and find that there is considerable heterogeneity in the outcomes. With the exception of switching to new rice varieties, all adaptation strategies considered in the study significantly increase saline-land productivity, mainly as a result of higher revenues. Moreover, for these strategies, food security is found to be significantly higher, whereas life satisfaction is only higher for those farm households that cultivate vegetables, shrimp, or lotus-fish. Adopting new rice varieties is found to significantly decrease saline-land productivity, whereas the social impacts are not significant.