Robin J. Lovell, Carol Shennan,
Nguyen Ngoc Thuy

Abstract
The Vietnamese Mekong River Delta emerged as a rice production giant in the 1990s. Cur- rently, the Vietnamese government is attempting to reduce environmental impacts result- ing from the triple annual rice crop regime. This article explores how gender influences farming practice adoption using household livelihood survey data from Tien Giang Prov- ince. Each farm is disaggregated into male-managed, female-managed, and jointly man- aged plots. The study uses correlation to explore how sustainable intensification (SI) and conventional intensification (CI) practices are applied in complementary packages, and then a binary logistic regression to determine if livelihood approaches within households influence adoption of farming practices. The study finds that CI practices are more than twice as popular as SI practices, and that CI and SI practices are adopted in pairs that complement each other. The research also shows that gendered plot management is directly associated with SI and CI practice adoption, including decreased fertilizer use (p<.0005) and increased pesticide use (p=.047) on male-managed plots; and decreased likelihood of using organic fertilizers or compost (p=.013) or adopting integrated pest management (p=.004) on female-managed plots. Across all SI and CI practices, there is a significant indirect gendered impact due to unequal access between the sexes to natural and human capitals that are associated with increased SI adoption, such as education and extension trainings. This research contributes empirical evidence toward understanding the tension between CI and SI practice adoption and uniquely explores the gendered implications of the recent SI push in Vietnamese agriculture.

Keywords: Southeast Asia · Vietnam · Mekong · Sustainable intensification · Gender · Rice