A Mekong Delta project on sustainable rural development and climate change adaptation will start in Ben Tre province later this month, according to Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Truc Son. The scheme is a follow-up to a project supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which has developed businesses in Ben Tre’s poor rural areas from May 2008, and is scheduled to end in June 2014. With funding of $24.66 million, $17 million of which from the IFAD alongside the $3.78 million from the government, the new project will respond to the poverty incidence rate, vulnerability to climate change and the national target program on rural development in 30 local communes. Several cultivation models adaptive to changing climate will come up, generating jobs for some 125,000 impoverished residents and offering capital for production and vocational training. The infrastructure system, including bridges and roads, will be built and more canals dredged. Poor households in which women are breadwinners will also benefit from the scheme. (Vietnam News May 7)
