Under the Nguyen period, amongst few provinces, Nam Dinh existed more public lands rather than private one. The first and second colonial exploitation of French colonial government created changes of land ownerships. The public land increasingly became narrow, instead of increasing private land, plantations owned by villages were encouraged. The process of privatization and land accumulation took place in more powerful situation. Although the ownership changed, the Nam Dinh provincial agriculture under the colonial time was not able to get out the economic orbit of small farmers by small and scattered production.