NEWS

A project supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will improve rural livelihoods and strengthen people’s capacity to adapt to climate change, benefitting 125,000 vulnerable people, in Viet Nam’s Mekong Delta region.

IFAD is providing US$34 million to finance the Project for Adaption to Climate Change in the Mekong Delta in Ben Tre and Tra Vinh Provinces. The project includes a US$12 million grant from the Adaption for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). The financing agreement was signed today at IFAD headquarters by Nguyen Hoang Long, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in Italy, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.

Although Viet Nam became a middle-income country in 2010, growing inequality between rural and urban areas and among ethnic groups threatens overall economic growth and prosperity. The negative impacts of climate change − including rising sea levels, increasing inland salinity, temperature spikes and erratic rainfall − impose further challenges by undermining food production and disproportionately affecting poor rural people. 
The project will target poor communities, specifically female-headed and ethnic minority households in the Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces in the north-east Mekong Delta. The project will work to develop climate-resilient agricultural systems, salinity-tolerant fish varieties and off-farm livelihood opportunities. It will also promote climate-sensitive planning to rationalise budgetary allocations, and provide financing for climate-robust, small-scale infrastructure to be built at community level.

“Following the global recession in 2008, Viet Nam has embarked on a number of macroeconomic adjustments which have facilitated the continued growth of the economy including the agricultural sector,” said Nwanze at the signing ceremony.

“Viet Nam’s policies for rural development, poverty reduction and latest adaption to climate change are inspiring examples globally for other developing countries.”

Since 1979, IFAD has invested a total of US$280.59 million in 12 programmes and projects in Viet Nam, with a total cost of US$398.20 million including cofinancing, reaching over 507,900 households.