Country agriculture profile · East Asia & Pacific
Viet Nam
Viet Nam is one of the world’s leading agricultural exporters, transformed since the Doi Moi reforms of the 1980s from food deficit to a major exporter of rice, coffee, and other commodities. Rice grown intensively in the Mekong and Red River deltas underpins food security, while the Central Highlands make the country a dominant global source of robusta coffee, alongside significant tea, pepper, cashew, and rubber. Production is dominated by smallholders farming small, fragmented plots at high cropping intensity.
Farming systems (stable overview)
Climate zones
- Tropical monsoon (south)
- Humid subtropical (north)
- Distinct wet and dry seasons with typhoon exposure
Agroecological zones
- Mekong River Delta (southern rice and aquaculture bowl)
- Red River Delta (northern intensive rice)
- Central Highlands perennial tree-crop belt
- Northern and central mountainous uplands
Dominant crop systems
- Intensive multi-cropped irrigated rice in the Mekong and Red River deltas
- Perennial tree crops in the Central Highlands — robusta coffee, pepper, tea, and rubber
- Cashew and fruit orchards
- Integrated rice-aquaculture systems in the Mekong Delta
Major livestock systems
- Smallholder pigs, the dominant source of meat
- Expanding commercial and household poultry
- Buffalo and cattle for draft, meat, and increasingly dairy
Irrigation: Dense delta irrigation and drainage networks enable double- and triple-cropping of rice, but the Mekong Delta is increasingly threatened by salinity intrusion, upstream dams, and land subsidence.
Latest verified data
Each value is the most recent available observation, shown with its own year and unit. Figures are periodically revised — treat them as dated, sourced statistics, not evergreen facts.
| Indicator | Value | Unit | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural land | 39.21 | % of land area | 2023 |
| Arable land | 21.47 | % of land area | 2023 |
| Cereal yield | 5,995.3 | kg per hectare | 2023 |
| Cereal production | 47,935,652.71 | metric tons | 2023 |
| Crop production index | 109.55 | index (2014–2016 = 100) | 2022 |
| Agriculture value added | 12.03 | % of GDP | 2024 |
| Employment in agriculture(est.) | 25.87 | % of total employment | 2024 |
| Rural population | 61.51 | % of total population | 2024 |
Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12
Cereal yield over time
Show data table
| Year | kg per hectare |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 5,462 |
| 2013 | 5,425.5 |
| 2014 | 5,577.8 |
| 2015 | 5,601.2 |
| 2016 | 5,441 |
| 2017 | 5,434.4 |
| 2018 | 5,685.4 |
| 2019 | 5,715.8 |
| 2020 | 5,797.3 |
| 2021 | 5,947.1 |
| 2022 | 5,903.9 |
| 2023 | 5,995.3 |
Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12
Derived indicator
Arable land as a share of agricultural land: 54.7 % of agricultural land (2023)
Derived value — formula arable-share-of-agricultural-land v1.0.0 (calc v1). Inputs: AG.LND.ARBL.ZS (21.5) ÷ AG.LND.AGRI.ZS (39.2). A derived ratio, not an observed statistic. Sensitive to rounding and to differing revision cycles of the two source series; omit rather than extrapolate when a common year is unavailable.
Documented crops & livestock
Agricultural institutions
- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) — National ministry responsible for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, irrigation, and rural development.
- Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) — National agricultural research network of institutes coordinating crop and farming-systems research.
Data coverage & limitations
Covered by the World Bank WDI snapshots for land, production, yield, economy, inputs, and environment indicators.
- Statistics are dated, versioned, and periodically revised; single-year figures should not be read as a fixed baseline.
- National definitions of agricultural land, holdings, and commodities differ from those used by other countries, limiting direct comparison.
- National aggregates hide the concentration of robusta coffee in the Central Highlands and of rice in the two deltas.
- Farm structure is dominated by very small, fragmented smallholdings, and the Mekong Delta faces mounting climate and salinity risks.
Sources
This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.
- Authoritative
Cited for: Agricultural statistics (WDI)
- Type:
- Intergovernmental organization
- Jurisdiction:
- Global
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12
- [2]FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization (opens in a new tab)Authoritative
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Cited for: Production, land-use, and commodity context
- Type:
- Intergovernmental organization
- Jurisdiction:
- Global
- Accessed:
- 2026-07-12