80 years of institutional development: Turning land into a driver of sustainable growth

Throughout the nation’s history, Vietnam’s land management sector has weathered its share of ups and downs, yet steadily advanced institutional reforms and unlocked resources. From the goal of “land to the tiller,” Vietnam has risen to become a global agricultural exporter, while land has evolved into one of the most vital drivers of a dynamic, globally integrated economy.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment’s journey alongside the nation, a reporter from the Vietnam Agriculture and Nature Newspaper spoke with Mr. Dao Trung Chinh, Director General of the Department of Land Administration, about the key milestones in the sector’s development and its future directions as the country enters a new era of growth and transformation.

Three turning points

Looking back on the 80-year journey of land administration (October 3, 1945 – October 3, 2025), what do you consider the most significant milestones?

The past 80 years have been a journey of profound transformation and pride. Under the leadership of the Party, the Government, and the Prime Minister, the land administration sector has made immense contributions to the revolutionary cause throughout different historical periods. In particular, it has played a crucial role in advising and formulating land policies and laws to resolve bottlenecks, thereby ensuring the effective management, exploitation, and use of land resources for socio-economic development, national defense, security, and the sustainable growth of the country.

If I were to highlight the most significant achievements, I believe there are three pivotal milestones.

First, the land reform of the 1950s was a revolutionary policy that placed farmland in the hands of peasants, affirming the people’s ownership over the most vital means of production.

Second, the 1980 Constitution established that land belongs to the entire people, with the State acting as the representative owner and exercising unified management. This was followed by the enactment of the 1987 Land Law, the first of its kind in the era of renovation, which laid the foundation for developing a land-use rights market while reaffirming the State’s role as the representative of all-people ownership.

Third, the present moment marks another milestone, as the 2024 Land Law is being revised and supplemented to support the restructuring of the state apparatus toward greater efficiency, compactness, and strength. This creates new momentum for the nation to enter a new era - one of rising stature - and to realize the aspiration of building a prosperous people, a strong country, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world’s powers.

Compared with the early period of land legislation, what innovations have the current land policies introduced to fully unlock the potential of land?

The current land law clearly reflects a strong spirit of reform through three major breakthroughs. First, the entire land management process has been redesigned toward greater decentralization to local authorities, coupled with strict oversight, power control, and digital data management. Second, the removal of the government’s land price framework, replacing it with annual market-based land price tables built on actual transaction data, helps reduce disparities in land recovery, compensation, and financial obligations. Third, the land information system and cadastral records have been digitized, interconnected, and made public, thereby enhancing management efficiency and reducing disputes. The law promotes the development of a healthy land-use rights market, ensuring fairness among all stakeholders, including the non-state sector.

Thanks to the steady improvement of land policies throughout the country’s development, land governance has achieved significant results, thereby supporting sustainable socio-economic growth.

Expanding beneficiaries and access to agricultural land

With 84% of the country’s natural land area classified as agricultural land, the development space and potential for agricultural land use remain vast. So, what changes have land policies introduced to move beyond the goal of “land to the tiller” toward building large-scale farming zones and positioning Vietnam as one of the world’s leading agricultural exporters?

From the slogan “land to the tiller” during the Land Reform in the North between 1953 and 1960, Vietnam’s land policies have undergone major transitions, reflecting a shift in thinking about land management and potential utilization. The household contract system (1981–1988) granted farmers long-term land-use rights, unleashing productive capacity and transforming Vietnam from a food-deficient country into a rice-exporting nation starting in 1989.

Entering the era of international integration, policies on land consolidation and parcel exchange have created large-scale raw material zones, enabling the application of mechanization and synchronized technologies. Since 2011, the large-scale field model has linked farmers with enterprises, scientists, and the State, thereby improving productivity, quality, and the added value of agricultural products while strengthening the branding of Vietnamese produce in global markets.

The 2024 Land Law ushers in a new phase, expanding access to agricultural land beyond farmers directly engaged in production. Tax and fee exemptions or reductions for land conversion and consolidation help establish concentrated production zones and high-tech agricultural areas. At the same time, the allowance for multi-purpose land use and mechanisms to protect farmers in cases of land recovery have increased land’s utility, economic value, and sustainability.

From the initial goal of “land to the tiller” to the current position as a major agricultural exporter, Vietnam’s land policies have continuously adapted and innovated—unlocking land’s potential more effectively, broadening access, and elevating its value in socio-economic development.

From the perspective of institutional and policy reforms, how has the exploitation of agricultural land potential transformed the face of rural Vietnam?

Over the past decades, continuous innovation and improvement in land policies have enabled the exploitation of agricultural land to move beyond fragmented, small-scale use toward modern, dynamic rural development, directly reshaping the rural landscape. Today, rural Vietnam is no longer just the site of traditional rice cultivation but is gradually evolving into multifunctional production zones that integrate both economy and markets.

Specifically, while in the past only farmers directly engaged in agricultural production were allowed to transfer or use rice-growing land, current law now permits individuals not directly involved in farming to receive transfers of rice land, within regulated limits. This policy attracts investors with capital and technology to invest in commercial agriculture, thereby diversifying land users and enhancing production capacity in rural areas.

Current land legislation also allows land users to shift crop structures, apply advanced technologies, and integrate commercial, service, livestock, and medicinal plant models on agricultural land—options that were previously restricted. As a result, farmland is no longer limited to production alone but has become a multi-purpose asset with greater utility and economic value.

By expanding eligible beneficiaries and diversifying land-use purposes, rural land has gradually been consolidated and planned into production zones. Large-scale fields have been established, creating vast raw material areas, attracting infrastructure investment, mechanization, and farming modernization. This has made rural areas more dynamic: landscapes have transformed, livelihoods have improved, and production zones have become destinations for investors, scientists, and enterprises working together to boost productivity, quality, and farmers’ incomes.

I firmly believe that if land policies, from planning to management, from allocation to usage control, are well implemented, Vietnam can fully unlock its agricultural potential, secure the livelihoods of millions of farmers, and make a strong contribution to national food security as well as the broader goal of sustainable development.

Vision for unlocking land resources

Looking ahead, in your view, what should be the key priorities of the land sector to serve sustainable socio-economic development in this new era, the era of national rise?

Over the past 80 years since the establishment of the land management sector, land has always been regarded as a unique resource, the primary means of production, closely tied to all aspects of socio-economic activity, national defense, security, the environment, and sustainable development.

Entering a new phase, the era of national rise, the sector faces the imperative of further unlocking the potential and resources of land to serve the goal of sustainable development and contribute to realizing the country’s vision for 2030 and 2045.

Accordingly, the sector’s first priority is to perfect institutions, particularly by implementing the Conclusions of the 12th Plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee on the mid-term review of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW. Guided by the unified directions of the Government Party Committee and the Party Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the sector has urgently and comprehensively led the review and assessment of the practical implementation of the 2024 Land Law. On that basis, it has proactively proposed amendments and supplements to timely institutionalize, more fully and deeply, the Party’s key viewpoints, policies, and orientations in the new context—shifting from a mindset of strict resource control to one of effective management and development facilitation.

At present, the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2024 Land Law has been meticulously prepared and is being circulated widely for feedback from ministries, sectors, localities, socio-political organizations, and the business community. This represents an important preparatory step to ensure broad consensus, feasibility, and coherence across the entire political system before the dossier is finalized and submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and adoption at its 10th session, expected in late 2025.

Second, the sector will intensify public communication and improve the quality of human resources, particularly at the grassroots level where direct interaction with citizens and businesses takes place.

Third, it will urge localities to complete their land databases to accelerate administrative reform, gradually modernize land management, and advance digital transformation based on a unified and centralized land information system. This system is designed to serve multiple purposes - connecting central and local levels, while integrating land data with real estate market information, population data, and other relevant databases.

The sector reaffirms its commitment to playing a pioneering role in institutional reform and the modernization of land governance, ensuring that land truly becomes a strategic resource for fast and sustainable national development, while safeguarding security and defense.

In recent years, the sector has closely coordinated with localities in building land databases and has achieved significant progress. As of before July 1, 2025 (prior to the implementation of the two-tier local government model), 495/696 district-level units had completed cadastral databases, covering and managing nearly 50 million land parcels. This means about 70% of all district-level administrative units nationwide now have digitized land data.

At the same time, all 63 provinces and centrally-run cities have connected and shared the national land database with the national population database, in line with the implementation of online public services under Scheme 06/CP. Among them, 36/63 provinces, cities are using land data to process residency procedures via the online public service system (linked with the Ministry of Public Security), and 49/ 63 provinces/cities have established interconnection between land registration offices and tax authorities to automatically determine land-related financial obligations.

These developments signal positive progress, showing that the land database is beginning to be utilized to serve citizens. Although nationwide coverage has not yet been achieved, these results mark an important shift in land management - benefiting governance, citizens, and businesses alike.

Thank you very much, sir!