Rome, 25 February 2011 - The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today agreed on a US$65 million project to support the government’s new rural development policy, which is aimed at raising living standards in some of Viet Nam’s poorest areas. Under the agreement, Viet Nam’s government and local sources will contribute US$17 million of the funding, with IFAD providing a US$48 million loan and US$ 0.3 million grant for the project, which seeks to enhance implementation effectiveness of the initiative, known as Tam Nong or Resolution 26 on Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas.

The financing agreement was signed today in Rome by Dang Khanh Thoai, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to Italy, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.

The project will cover 117 poor communes in 16 districts of three provinces – five districts in the province of Tuyen Quang, five districts in Gia Lai and six districts in Ninh Thuan province – with the objective of reaching 73,800 women, ethnic minorities and other members of rural poor households. Supported programs will be focused on enhancing their skills, economic participation and success – as well as increasing their awareness of and access to profitable markets.

In addition the project aims at supporting the selected provinces in carrying out much-needed pro-poor institutional reforms, such as the more decentralized, participatory approaches to agricultural development, as well as wider engagement of the private sector. Innovations promoted by the project include engagement of private-sector actors as stakeholders in the rural development process, adoption of a pro-poor value chain approach by the government, and differentiated strategies for “pre-market” and “market-ready” communes.

To date, IFAD has financed 10 projects in Viet Nam for a total investment of US$ 209.20 million directly benefiting 539,270 households.

Press release No.: IFAD/15/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 167 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).