The Dong Nai Province People's Committee has launched a program to support 5,000 poor households in rural, remote and ethnic minority areas to improve agricultural production from now until 2015. The program, which is estimated to cost about VND15 billion ($710,000), will help households grow rice, corn and sugarcane and/or rear chickens, goats and cows. Each household will be given VND1.5-VND9 million to boost production and instructed in advanced farming techniques. Beneficiary households will be those targeted by the provincial poverty alleviation program and have conditions to engage in agriculture production but lack knowledge, experience and access to advanced farming techniques. The southeastern province has a target of reducing the number of poor households by 1.5 per cent every year. (Vietnam News July 2)
