Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has asked the Ministry of Finance to allocate an additional 2,137 tons of rice from the national reserves for famine relief in the central province of Nghe An. The PM required the local authorities to use the granted amount of rice to timely support local people who are in the between-crop period. Since early this year, the government has assigned to provide over 35,553 tons of rice to help the poor in 18 provinces namely Yen Bai, Lai Chau, Kon Tum, Binh Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Phu Yen, Dak Lak, Cao Bang, Nghe An, Quang Ngai, Lao Cai, Ha Tinh, Lang Son, Dien Bien, Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Son La. Vietnam reported 68,300 hungry families in May, with 288,000 starveling people, falling 5.7% and 6.3% from a year earlier, respectively. The figures of hungry households and hungers accounted for 0.7% of the total farming households and 0.6% of the total farmers. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan - People’s Army June 20 p1)
