Asian Development Bank

JFPR 9046: Poverty Reduction in Red River Basin Irrigation System
Viet Nam (VIE)

Project Summary

Counterpart loan/project(s)

• Loan 1855-VIE: Second Red River Basin Sector Project (SRRBSP)

Grant Type

• Capacity Building grant

Task Officer / Department

• Pieter Smidt
  Viet Nam Resident Mission

Budget

Executing Agency

• ADB

Implementing Agency

• Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)
  

Scope

The Grant will provide eight person-months of international consulting services and the services of an NGO for a duration of about two years for participatory agriculture extension and irrigation and pro-poor rural development interventions. The Grant will be implemented in one of the core subprojects of the SRRBSP, i.e. the Gia Tuan Irrigation Subproject.

Objectives

The Grant aims to develop a practical model to address the priority needs of poor farmers, including agricultural extension and participatory irrigation management (PIM), to increase farm incomes and alleviate poverty. This will involve pilot implementation, and associated capacity building, to develop and document a participatory process and build capacity to support its widespread replication under the $30 million Rural Development Support (RDS) component of the SRRBSP being implemented by MARD.

The Grant during a 27 months implementation period will:

• Field days organized for agricultural extension and PIM;
• Commune and village groups organized in poor communes to implement suitable pro-poor interventions; indicative pro-poor interventions include small-scale community infrastructure, livestock raising, support services for credit use and income generating activities for sustainable livelihoods;
• Development and pilot implementation of a participatory RDS process, for informed inclusive decision making in detailed design and implementation and adoption for scaling-up in other subprojects under SRRBSP; and
• Build capacity within MARD and its provincial agencies, at commune level, and among NGO staff members to provide future training/support for scaling-up of RDS process replication under SRRBSP.

Main Project Components and Activities

Participatory Agriculture Extension and Irrigation Management - Comparative field trials (farmer versus improved rice production practices) will be organized targeting poor and disadvantaged farmers.

Pro-Poor Interventions - Social mobilization and community organization will be undertaken to organize commune and village groups and establish commune selection criteria, equitable and transparent rules regarding selection criteria and community equity contributions.