URAL EMPLOYMENTS IN THE MEKONG DELTA AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH URBAN AREAS IN THE SHIFT FROM RICE CULTIVATION TO SHRIMP FARMING

Abstract

By analyzing dimensions of labor migration in the delta’s rice-to-shrimp communities, this paper suggests that in the present context, the relationship between rural and urban areas cannot be separately analyzed. In this paper, this close relationship is manifested in two aspects of rural employments and rural-urban migration. Those factors of excess labor, limited land, lack of employment, and uncertain conditions in agriculture production are important movitations of labor migration in the delta. Our findings are that having close proximity to industrial and urban areas remains an important drive of rural-urban migration. However, the rapid development of transportation and information which more and more connects rural and urban areas effectively has reduced geographical distance. Consequently, the organic relations between rural and industrial and urban areas have accelerated rural-urban migration. Moreover, rural-migration is also an indicator of unsustainability in agricultural production of the Mekong Delta.