IFAD Allocates $48.35M to Help Vietnam’s Ethnic Minorities

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will allocate $48.35 million for a provincial-level project to support the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers in Vietnam. The project aims to raise the living conditions of Vietnamese rural people, especially ethnic minority people, said IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze in a signing ceremony in Feb. 25 in Rome, Italy. The funding, the largest that IFAD has given to Vietnam so far, will be used for the northern province of Tuyen Quang, the central highlands province of Gia Lai and the southern province of Ninh Thuan in the 2011-15 period. The official also expressed hope that Vietnam will increase further investment in developing agriculture and rural areas in the long term. Though Vietnam is among the world exporters of agricultural products, a number of its citizens, especially ethnic minorities still have limited access to basic needs including food and clean water. (vietnamplus.vn Feb. 26)