The Craft Villages of Rural Industry in Red River Delta, North Vietnam : A Case Study of Rice Paper Rural Industry in Cheu Village, Ha Nam Province

The industrialization of farm villages, including the local industry, is performed as a part of the farm villages' development policy, which has beenflourishing from early the 1990s, to solve the problems in rural areasthat experiencedrapid economic growth after the Doi Moi policy was introduced in Vietnam. The rural industry (cottage industry) that isspecialized in the production of specific farm village industry products in rural areasis referred to asacraft village. Craft villages comprise smallscalemanagement agencies. In recent years, craft villages have gained popularity forconsistently absorbing redundant workers within farm village. However, the economic activities of the industrial division in rural areas are run small management agencies (an informal sector), with no reliable statistics on their performance. Therefore, it is important to clarify the role of the informal sector that supports the economy in Vietnam. This study focuses on thecraft village in Cheu village in Ly Nhan district, Ha Nam Province, Red River Delta, which manufacturesrice paper. Therefore, the aim of this study is to clarify the manufacture and sale of rice paper while focusing on households, their members, and the internal networksin the manufacture ofrice paper. This study is based on the results of field surveys conducted 10 times during the period from September 2013 to September 2014.