This survey examined income diversification in the Northern Upland region of Vietnam, its contribution to poverty reduction, and the constraints to further diversification. Some objectives of the survey were:

• To describe the patterns of crop diversification and non-farm activities at the household level,
• To compare the extent and patterns of diversification in 1994 and 2002,
• To estimate the relative importance of income diversification and other sources of income growth in reducing rural poverty,
• To evaluate the experiences with and perceptions of income diversification among rural households in the Northern Uplands,
• To identify policy and public investment priorities for income diversification and poverty reduction as perceived by rural households.

The survey includes information on household characteristics, access to land, sources of income, perceived standard of living, farmers, and buyers, agricultural markets, and government assistance. The Northern Upland region was defined as the 14 provinces in the Northeast and the Northwest regions. A five-stage stratified cluster sample was used for the survey. In the first stage, eight provinces were selected to represent the diversity of the region in terms of market access (proximity to Hanoi), topography (lowland vs. upland), and geography (east vs. west). In the second stage, two districts from each of the eight provinces were selected. In the third stage, one commune was selected randomly in each of the 16 selected districts. The teams selected two villages in each of the 16 selected communes for a total of 32 villages. In the fifth and last stage of sample, the survey teams selected between 5 to 10 households to interview. Overall, 307 households were interviewed.