Efficiency Assessment of Land Use Types in Tan Binh Commune, Dak Doa District, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam

Buinhat HUNG, Qingsheng HAO*, Nguyenminh THANH, Nguyenthi LINH, Levan CUONG, Nguyenthibich PHUONG, Levan LONG, Meiqi ZHANG

1. School of Economics and Management, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China; 2. Faculty of Forestry, Vietnam National University of Forestry, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam; 3. School of Forestry & Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China

Abstract Land resource depletion causes a range of consequences, such as threats to food security, increasing poverty, and social unrest. Therefore, reasonable and effective land use has become a crucial issue of the nation and localities nationwide. Research results in Tan Binh commune, Dak Doa district, Gia Lai Province in Vietnam showed that long-term industrial and agricultural land occupies most of the commune’s agroforestry land. The study also had shown that there are six common land use types (LUTs) in the commune. In particular, the LUT of pepper cultivation had the highest economic benefit, whereas the LUT of coffee brought the highest social benefit. However, the LUT of chayote was the highest in overall benefits with Ect of 0.93; thus, this LUT should be widely applied throughout Tan Binh commune. The research results were a crucial scientific basis for proposing a group of suitable plants to local natural conditions to bring effective and sustainable efficiency in land-use types.

Key words Land use type (LUT), Efficiency assessment, Benefit, Crop cultivation, Tan Binh Commune of Vietnam

1 Introduction

Nowadays, land resources are becoming exhausted due to the increasing demand for land use and land degradation. Some causes of natural land resource depletion include erosion, fading, landslides, desertification, or human impacts such as excessive fertilizer use, soil pollution, nomadicetc.[1]. Land resource depletion causes a range of consequences, such as threats to food security, increasing poverty, and social instability. Hence, the reasonable and effective land use types (LUTs) from an ecological point of view is becoming a very significant issue of all countries over the world[2].

The Central Highlands is a potential land region, including about 1.2 million ha of red basalt soil, accounting for more than 60% of Vietnam’s basalt red soil[3]. With the land potential advantages, the Central Highlands is the largest specialized coffee and pepper region in the country. The coffee planting area is over 560 000 ha, accounting for nearly 90% of the country’s coffee-growing area, and the pepper area is nearly 44 000 ha, accounting for 51.34% of the national pepper area[4]. Tan Binh commune, located in the East of Dak Doa district, Gia Lai Province, Vietnam, also cultivates two long-term industrial crops (coffee and pepper) with the large area. Because of the great economic benefits, the planting of industrial plants in the commune is very rampant and not planned. There is an excellent influence on the local land resources, especially increasing the degraded soil.

Therefore, it is essential to study and evaluate the LUTs efficiency. The research results are the basis for proposing plans for planning, using and protecting land resources; on the other hand, propose the best LUT which brings substantial economic, social, and environmental benefits and replicates throughout the commune. This paper focuses on: (i) analyzing the current state of agroforestry land and common LUTs; (ii) assessing the economic, environmental and social efficiency of common LUTs; (iii) evaluating the overall efficiency and proposing effective LUTs in the areas of Tan Binh, Dak Doa and Gia Lai commune, Vietnam.

2 Methods

2.1 Data collection

2.1.1Secondary data collection. Secondary data are inherited from the Office of People’s Councils and People’s Committees, the Division of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam. The data include natural conditions, socioeconomic conditions, land policies, and the current status of agricultural and forestry land use from 2015 to 2019.

2.1.2Primary data collection. (i) Describing the current land use status and identifying common LUTs. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tool was applied to collect data about land use status and identify common LUTs in the study area[5]. The total number of interviewed households was 30 households. These households were divided into three groups: 3 rich households, 3 middle households, and 4 poor households. The criteria for dividing the rich, medium and poor households are based on the division criteria of Tan Binh commune, based on the Decision No.09 of 2011 on promulgating the poverty line, the near-poor households for the period of 2011 - 2015[6]. Questionnaire survey sets include basic situation of farmer households, production scale, land structure, income, agroforestry production activities, difficulties, and recommendations. (ii) Analyzing principal cropping patterns and common LUTs .LUTs were analyzed in detail by the transect survey method. The selected direction passed through all LUTs in the study area. The number of research villages was three, the number of survey routes in one community is one.

Besides, the PRA method is used to interview households on the survey route. Based on that, the typical LUTs selected for evaluation must ensure the following criteria: fast growing plants with few pests; crops brought income; crops that were long-standing, consistent with the customs and practices of the people; crops with a wide market for products; people have easy access to services provided to plants on seed, fertilizer and pesticides.

2.2 Data analysis

2.2.1Economic efficiency assessment. (i) Static methodology. It is assumed that the costs and results are relatively independent and not affected by time, investment objectives and value for money. This method is applied to calculate for short-term crop cultivation types, including chayote, sweet potato, hybrid maize and wet rice.

The total profit of a LUT is calculated by using the following formula:

P=B-C

wherePdenotes the total benefit of one LUT in one year (VND);Bdenotes the income value of one year (VND);Cdenotes the cost value of one year (VND).

For this method, if the calculated resultP>0, the LUT reaches economically efficient andviceversa.

(ii) Dynamic methodology.Dynamic methods (NPV, CPV, BPV, and IRR calculation) were used to assess economic efficiency for long-term crop cycles, including Pepper and Coffee.

Net Present Value (NPV).

whereBtrefers to the income value of thetyear (VND);Ctdenotes the cost value of thetyear (VND);ris the interest rate (%);tdenote the time of production (years); Σ represents the present value of the net income from year 0 to yearn: years of production cycle.

Benefit to cost ratio (BCR).

whereBCRratio between income and expenses (VND/VND);BPVdenotes the present value of income (VND);CPVdenote the present value of cost (VND).

Internal rate of return (IRR). IRR is the discount rate, this rate makes NPV = 0 when

2.2.2Social benefits. Social benefits were assessed for both short-term crops (chayote, sweet potato, hybrid maize and wet rice) and long-term crops (pepper and coffee).

The criteria for evaluating social efficiency were tested by discussing with local households, in: (i) the spreadability and development; (ii) level of labor attraction and job solution; (iii) assurance for food security and food safety; (iv) level of investment and technical requirements for cultivation; (v) level of economic income, consistent with the consumer market.

Results are assessed by using a scoring method (from a minimum of 1 point to a maximum of 10 points).

2.2.3Environmental benefits. This benefit is evaluated by the following criteria: (i) soil protection from erosion, (ii) the use of fertilizers and pesticides, (iii) annual crop yield stability.

These evaluation criteria were assessed by the scoring methodology (from a minimum of 1 point to a maximum of 10 points)

2.2.4Overall efficiency assessment. The overall efficiency index (Ect) is calculated for all LUTs by using the method of W. Rola (1994)[7]:

whereEctis the overall efficiency index. IfEct=1, the LUTs have the most efficiency, the closerEctto 1, the higher the overall efficiency,fis the quantity involved in the calculation (NPV, CPV, IRR …), andnis the quantity involved in the calculation.

3 Results and discussions

3.1 Status of agroforestry area in Tan Binh communeAgricultural land accounted for the majority of land types in the commune. The structure of land use for agricultural production was diverse and relatively consistent with the land potential in the commune. The current land use status in 2014 in the commune was shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Area and structure of agroforestry in the study area

The data in Table 1 indicates that: agricultural land covers an area of 1 666.93 ha, accounting for 87.06% of the agricultural land area and accounting for 77.26% of the total natural land area in the commune. Particularly, the land for annual crops covered an area of 149.59 ha, accounting for 8.97%; land for perennial crops was 1 517.34 ha, consisting of 91.03% of the total agricultural land. The commune’s total forest area was 245.23 ha, comprising 12.81% of the total agricultural land. All forestry land was production forest land, pure-planted pine species (PinuskesiyaHook). Plantation forest covered an area of communes: Tan Binh, Glar and Dak Doa town. The main purpose was to protect the environment and air conditioners and create landscapes for the district and neighboring communes.

Generally, the commune’s agricultural land accounted for the majority of productive land and was used effectively. This area had been contributing to an increase in income and improved the lives of local people. However, the area of perennial industrial crops was increasing due to the situation of changing crop structure from short-term yields to cultivate pepper and coffee was dramatically intense and not strictly managed.

3.2 Some main LUTs in the study areaSix most typical LUTs in the commune were selected to access. These were representative LUTs of developing production widely throughout the commune. The results were shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Some main LUTs in the study area

3.3 The efficiency of the main LUTs in the study areaThe most effective LUT was identified through assessments in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects. This was a significant basis for replicating effective LUT throughout the commune to improve the efficiency of land use and local people’s lives.

3.3.1Economic efficiency. The first criteria for selecting a suitable and highly effective land-use model was economic efficiency. The income and cost index were important bases to evaluate the economic efficiency of LUTs. In particular, models of industrial crops of pepper and coffee were calculated by the dynamic method with a discount rate calculated at 7% interest per year.

The results in Table 3 revealed that: LUTs of short-term agricultural crops were not very profitable and there were differences among plant species.

Table 3 Economic efficiency of LUTs for short-term crops (ha/year, million VND)

Outstanding characteristics of Chayote were easy fruiting, reusing climbing rigs, long harvest time (5 months), high harvest times (5 times/month), high fruit yield (0.350 - 0.450 t/ha/1 harvest), reasonable price (2 000-4 000 VND/kg). Therefore, local households cultivated a large area of land for this annual crop.

LUT of sweet potatoes: Sweet potato was a traditional agricultural plant of the commune. This LUTs brought the second-highest profit among annual crops with a cost of 20.324 million VND/ha, the average revenue of 42 million VND/ha and benefit of 21.676 million VND/ha annually. This species was overgrowing, only attendance and lower investment costs compared to other agricultural plants. Besides, this LUT brought an average yield of 0.60-0.70 tons/ha, the average selling price of 6 000 VND/kg.

LUT of hybrid maize: This plant had been grown for a long time in the study area. The cost of planting hybrid maize was 18.88 million VND/ha, the revenue was 24 million VND/ha and the profit was 5.12 million VND/ha annually. The benefit from this species was lower than that of chayote and sweet potato.

LUT of wet rice: The investment cost for cultivating 1 ha of wet rice land was 19.78 million VND/ha/year. These expenses were mainly invested in buying seeds, making soil, fertilizing, plant protection drugs and labor. The average revenue of this LUT was 22.5 million VND/ha annually, and the profit was about 2.72 million VND/ha annually.

Thus, the LUT of wet rice cultivation yielded the lowest income among short-term agricultural crops. There were many reasons for the low economic efficiency of this LUT. That is, the actual area of wet rice production was only about 15-20 ha, the remaining area was deserted. On the other hand, rice land was distributed on low and low terrain, making it difficult to cultivate.

The costs of planting and tending perennial industrial plants including coffee and pepper were summarized in Table 4.

Table 4 Economic efficiency of LUTs of perennial industrial plants in 10-year cycle

Research results showed that: both LUTs of coffee and pepper were profitable with annual NPV values of 26 901 778 and 88 384 221 VND, respectively. However, pepper was 3.38 times higher (2 425 993 327 VND/year) than the LUT of coffee (716 194, 906 VND/year). The area for growing pepper was greatly expanded from the area of other species including: annual crops, rubber.

Besides, the LUTs of coffee and pepper were both capable of making benefits effectively, safely shown by BCR values of 1.82 times and 1.78 times, respectively. The internal rate of return (IRR) of the two LUTs was higher than the discount rate (r=7%) with values of 71.50% and 36.19% respectively. Particularly, the LUT of coffee had the ability to recover capital faster than pepper. Unlike the LUT of pepper, the LUT of coffee was intercropped with short-term agricultural crops in 3 years of cultivation period. In this time, local households intercropped with short-term agricultural crops such as sweet potatoes, maize and peanut in the LUT of coffee to provide food, economic profits.

3.3.2Social benefits. The acceptance of local people was the most significant index to assess the social benefits. A LUT was accepted and applied for production which must meet variety of requirements such as high economic efficiency, regular income, labor-intensive settlement and conformity with the local cultivation[8-10]. Social benefit evaluation results of the LUTs in the commune were summarized in Table 5.

Table 5 Social benefits of common LUTs in Tan Binh commune

The results indicated that the LUTs of long-term industrial plants (coffee, pepper) were ranked the first and the second. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth were the LUT of sweet potato, chayote, hybrid maize and wet rice, respectively. Pepper and Coffee were the two main species that brought highly economic efficiency for local people and solved huge annual labor (300 workers/ ha in LUT of coffee and 1 200 workers/ha in LUT of pepper). In these crops, coffee was considered as the highest social efficiency because the output was stable at a high level with an average of 4-5 t/ha and easy to apply scientific and technical in production processes. Meanwhile, pepper had long business cycles, large initial investment and difficult cultivation techniques, highly dependent on weather and disease.

Therefore, the conversion of crop structure from the short-term agricultural crops to the long-term perennial industrial crops had solved local labor force and brought great economic value.

3.3.3Environmental benefits. The environmental benefit was one of the important indicators reflecting the sustainability of the LUT. In fact, the environmental factors significantly impact on plant growth and development. Besides, the growth and development of plants depends largely on the characteristics and quality of the soil. Therefore, to improve crop productivity, people had a great impact on the soil environment and thereby creating very different effects on the environment[11-12]. These results were shown in Table 6.

Table 6 Environmental benefits of the LUTs in Tan Binh commune

The assessment results revealed that most of the LUTs in the commune had low environmental benefits. In particular, LUT of Sweet potato was the highest ecological efficiency, followed by Chayote, Coffee, Wet Rice, Hybrid Maize and finally Pepper.

Low environmental benefits in most of the LUTs caused by poorly protected soil: topsoil layers, soil moisture, soil porosity and highly using and unbalance fertilizer. This was illustrated in detail in Table 7.

Table 7 Fertilizer use status in the LUTs compared with the recommended standards

Table 8 Overall benefits of the LUTs in Tan Binh commune

The results indicated that fertilizer investment for crops was high, mainly inorganic fertilizers. The annual crop group had a lower fertilizer amount than the perennial plant group. The amount of nitrogen fertilizer was mainly applied from urea, phosphorus (superphosphate) and potassium (potassium chloride). The amount of organic fertilizer applied was much lower than the recommended standards.

Local people fertilized the unbalance ratio between N and P2O5with K2O such as: wet rice and hybrid maize. Among the crops, chayote and sweet potato were fertilized relatively balanced and reasonable. Coffee had inorganic fertilizers exceeding the required standards while the manure amount provided insufficiently for the soil. For pepper, there was no fertilizer standard that regulated a balanced and reasonable fertilize in the studied time. In fact, the households provided buffalo head fertilizer with 20% N, 10% P2O5and 20% K2O5, about 2 t/ha and about 50 m3/ha of organic fertilizer.

Coffee and pepper had a much higher level of pesticide investment. On average, local households used about 5 pesticide liters per hectare to prevent mealybugs, cicadas for those plants. For instance, people sprayed about 50 pesticide liters per hectare for pepper every year.

3.3.4Overall benefits of the common LUTs in the commune. Assessing the overall benefits of the LUTs in term of socio-economic-environment aspect was a review of the combined effectiveness of all the LUTs. Based on that, there was a comparison of overall benefits among LUTs. Finally, the most effective LUT was selected for developing in other area of the commune.

The results in Table 8 revealed that the overall efficiency index of all LUTs was not much different. Particularly, the LUT of chayote had the highest overall efficiency withEct=0.93, followed by the LUT of pepper, coffee, sweet potato, hybrid maize, and the lowest was the LUT of Wet rice withEct=0.58.

In conclusion, the LUT of chayote brought high economic, environmental, and social benefits, which will contribute greatly to the soil protection and sustainable use of land resources. Therefore, this LUT should be widely replicated throughout the commune.

4 Conclusions

In Tan Binh commune, there were six common land-use types, including: wet rice (LUT1); hybrid maize (LUT2); chayote (LUT3); sweet potatoes (LUT4); coffee (LUT5); and pepper (LUT6).

Economic benefits: In term of LUTs of short-term agricultural crops, profited from the LUT of chayote ranked the first with 106.7 million VND/ha annually, followed by LUT of sweet potatoes (21.676 million VND/ha annually), LUT of hybrid maize (5.12 million VND/ha annually) and finally wet rice (2 72 million VND/ha annually ). In terms of LUTs of perennial industrial crops: LUT of pepper brought an NPV of 1 060 610 651 VND, LUT of coffee brought 322 821 336 VND. With the same interest rate (7%), LUT of pepper had BCR, IRR of 1.78, and 36.19%, respectively while LUT of coffee had 1.82 and 71.50%. The LUTs of pepper and coffee profited 2 425 993 327 VND/ha annually and 716 194 906 VND/ha annually, respectively.

Social benefits: LUT of coffee were ranked the highest, followed by LUT of pepper, sweet potato, chayote, hybrid maize and finally wet rice.

Environmental benefits: The LUT of sweet potato and coffee were evaluated to achieve higher environmental benefits than the others because most of the environmental indicators scored highly and stably.

Overall benefits: LUT of chayote was the highest withEtcof 0.93 with the component indices including economicEtcwas 1; socialEtcwas 0.94; and environmentEtcwas 0.94. The following were the LUTs of pepper, coffee, sweet potato, hybrid maize and wet rice. Therefore, the LUT of chayote should be widely replicated throughout the commune because of its high economic, environmental and social benefits.