Finding the Suitable Agriculture Circular Economic Models in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Economic research on circular economy is in great demand since this novel system is intentionally designed to outperform the traditional linear economy with respect to sustainability; however, a wide gap between the intention and applied models persists owing to the incomplete theoretical background and practical guidelines. Circular economy describes an economic system that is based on business models which replace the ‘end-of-life’ concept with reducing, alternatively reusing, recycling, recovering materials in production/distribution and consumption processes, with the aim to accomplish sustainable development, which implies creating environmental quality, economic prosperity and social equity, to the benefit of current and future generations. This paper firstly aims to develop a conceptual framework of circular economic (CE) and its applications particularly to developing countries which share contextual similarities with Vietnam. Precisely, CE is look like a cyclical lake or closed-loop ecosystem to increase green productions and consumptions, whereas the traditional linear extract-produce-use-dump economy is as a flowing river. In addition, it explored a business model to enhance the acceptance of farmers to circular economics in organic fertilizer. The target of this paper is to seek a possibility of circular models applying to the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The study highlights some unambiguous benefits of circular economy in favour of sustainable development in three domains including economy, society, and environment. The research results assessed the economic implications of and the reasons for adopting circular economics model in organic fertilizer. Conclusion and managerial implications are drawn from the analysis pointing the improvement of farmers’ perception on applying circular economic model in organic fertilizer.