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International audience; In Vietnam, agricultural extension has contributed to rural development and poverty alleviation over the past two decades of agricultural decollectivization, but it was not very effective in reducing disparities within farmer communities. The study examined how better interactions of extension services with other agencies and information sources may help marginal farmers in catching up with the general improvement of living conditions in a mountainous area in northern Vietnam. It combined three complementary viewpoints on this issue: that of the agricultural extension staff, that of farmers and that of development experts with a long working experience in the mountains of Vietnam. The analysis of existing structures and functions of the extension system revealed a number of obstacles to the participation of marginal farmers in extension programmes and helped to identify relevant domains of intervention.

Under the socialist system of collectivized agriculture, Viet Nam was a nation of chronic food shortages. Now, thanks to the dramatic doi moi economic reforms, Viet Nam has transformed itself into one of the world's leading exporters of rice, coffee, rubber, tea, and other agricultural products. This remarkable economic success has been concentrated in the lowland "rice bowl" regions, where farmers had the means to take advantage of the new doi moi policies. But in the northern mountains, poverty levels remain high and environmental degradation threatens the continued livelihoods of farmers. This volume presents a series of monographic and analytical studies vital to understanding the heterogeneity and potential of the mountains of northern Viet Nam. The Mountain Agrarian Systems Program (SAM) has used an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the needs and possibilities of farmers in the mountainous province of Bac Kan. The multiple-scale analysis showed that we need to create not only a spirit of "thinking globally and acting locally", but just as importantly, a spirit of "thinking locally and acting globally". The research provides a foundation for development practitioners and policy makers to identify the successes and failures of past policies and projects, and to target the groups most in need of development assistance today.