For six years, Luan struggled to provide for his family because he didn’t have authorisation from the government to farm his land.

Luan lives in Vu Quang, a mountainous area in north-central Vietnam where most people earn their income from agriculture. The issue began when his community was resettled to make way for a hydro-electric dam. Today, Luan’s village is 30km away and 20m underwater.

In his new village, Luan didn’t have permission to use the land for agriculture. Because they couldn’t earn a living farming, many households were forced to borrow from the bank just to cover day-to-day costs.

Connecting community and government

Working with the Ha Tinh Center for Community Development (HCCD), AOP brought communities into dialogue with local authorities to share the severe impact of the delays on their lives.

After the dialogue sessions, over 300 households finally received their land use certificates and were able to begin farming.

Luan immediately took out a loan to begin developing his land. He planted 550 orange trees, constructed a pond for fish farming, and purchased livestock to begin building a diverse range of livelihoods.

Reaping the rewards

Today, Luan has 1,000 orange trees. He expects to earn $2,000 this year and $20,000 by next year when his trees reach maturity.

Luan is one of 2,500 Vietnamese farmers AOP is connecting with government so they can raise their voices on issues that impact their livelihoods.

This project is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).

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