The boom in world rubber demand over the last decennia has resulted in national policies that stimulate expansion of large scale rubber plantations into non--‐traditional rubber cultivation areas north of  Vietnam's Central Highlands. Study of the interaction between national and provincial policies, ruber companies' practies and smal holder strategies in one such area, Huong Son district of Ha Tinh province, shows that the result is an increase of land area managed by companies at the expense of smallholders and forest land with regeneration potential. Stimulation of real smallholder rubber production, not controlled by rubber companies, does not exist, which is a loss for the development of interesting alternative models for rubber cultivation and production.