8 Food consumption per capita Figure 1 3 Food Production Surplus and Consumption per capita in Vietnam, 1960–2005 Source Rice Pedia (2015) However, with a tighter integration into the global economy a[.]
8 Production Surplus Food consumption per capita Figure 1-3: Food Production Surplus and Consumption per capita in Vietnam, 1960–2005 Source: Rice Pedia (2015) However, with a tighter integration into the global economy and with global trends toward market orientation and increasing competitiveness, Vietnam is facing significant issues that could impact reliability of food production and distribution, namely: severe and frequent floods, droughts, and pest and disease outbreaks; deteriorating quality and quantity of its finite water reservoirs; and declining agricultural land under urbanisation This situation would get even more complex due to climate change, thus adding to the uncertainty of food production Against this backdrop, the continuation of historical policies for management would potentially cause major constraints for Vietnam, typically in terms of an ineffective organisation of supply chains, low-incomes with poor access to essential services, and an inadequate food policy mechanism Moreover, notwithstanding policy effort to protect food production, the existing planning approaches and methodologies allow each ministry to focus on maximising its own interests rather than the collective national interest, which potentially precludes the integration and cooperation among policy settings Lack of appropriate development models that consider inter-relationships in objectives and conditions for developing integrated policies would eventually lead to a failure in ensuring food security and the entire socio-economic development at large This research therefore argues that energy-, water- and food-security nexus will heavily impact Vietnam’s future social-economic