Volatility in commodity markets poses an acute risk to farmers in developing countries
who rely on cash crop agriculture. We combine a time series of international coffee prices with a
long-running panel on coffee-growing households in Viet Nam to investigate coping
mechanisms employed by farmers in a transitioning economy. We find that households cope
with lower coffee prices by increasing wage labour of adults with children and adolescents
substituting for adults on the farm and in home production. Account should be taken of this
finding in formulating and implementing social protection and inclusive growth policies.