Vietnam, along with other eight countries worldwide, has won the award for outstanding progress in fighting hunger and undernourishment presented by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Other eight winners are Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Granada, Indonesia and Nicaragua. The award ceremony is scheduled tot take place in Rome, Italy in mid-June, said FAO General Director Jose Graziano da Silva. He added that 30 other nations will also be honored at the event for their achievements in increasing food production. Vietnam’s poverty rate dropped by 2.12% in 2012 against the previous year, exceeding the National Assembly’s earlier set target of 2%. By end-2012, the national poverty rate touched 9.64% and the number of hunger households fell to 27.6% against 2011. Especially, poverty rate in poor districts in Vietnam decreased sharply to 7.02%, lower than the preset goal by 4%. So far, up to 2.1 million households are deemed poor and 1.4 million near-poor, accounting for 9.46 and 6.75% of the national population, as shown in a survey by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. (vietnamplus.vn May 28)
