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Grant to Develop Community-Based Agricultural Extension and Training for Viet Nam

HANOI, VIET NAM (4 August 2006) - ADB and the Government of Viet Nam today signed a grant project that will disseminate improved agricultural technology and information to help reduce poverty in remote and isolated mountainous parts of the country.

The US$900,000 grant is provided by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), financed by the Government of Japan. The Government of Viet Nam will contribute $80,000 toward the project's total cost.

The JFPR project will undertake, in poor and mountainous districts of two provinces in the northern central region - Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces - a series of community-based programs to develop agriculture and income-generating activities for local communes. It will strengthen skills of grassroots extension staff and develop farmer-to-farmer learning networks, and promote new methods of planning and evaluation.

The project complements a proposed Agriculture Science and Technology (AST) Project that will strengthen Viet Nam's agriculture science and technology system (research, extension, and rural-based training).

ADB and Centre d' Etude et de Cooperation Internationale (CECI), a Canadian nongovernment organization, jointly developed the project, drawing primarily on CECI's experience with a project to improve livelihoods for mountainous communities financed by Canada in Viet Nam's central region.

"Integrated approaches to agricultural extension and training are still rare in Viet Nam, where the state-managed system guided by the central Government is predominant," says Ayumi Konishi, ADB's Country Director for Viet Nam.

"The project particularly targets mountainous areas where ethnic minorities make up the majority of the population, poverty rates are high, and social development initiatives are strongly needed."

It will be closely coordinated with the Government's national programs for socioeconomic development in the most disadvantaged communes.

The JFPR was set up in 2000 with an initial contribution of $90 million, followed by additional contributions totaling $155 million in 2002, and annual contributions up to 2006, bringing the total amount to $360 million.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in the Asia and Pacific region through pro-poor sustainable economic growth, social development, and good governance. Established in 1966, it is owned by 66 members - 47 from the region. In 2005, it approved loans and technical assistance totaling $6.95 billion and $198.8 million, respectively.

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