At the macro level, the Agriculture Competitiveness Project supports the government’s strategy on market-oriented agricultural development, which is an important element of its drive to eradicate poverty, the WB said. At the local level, it aims to strengthen the competitiveness of smallholder farmers, with a focus on eight provinces in central Vietnam.

The project is expected to improve smallholders’ access to markets through the provision of technology services, upgrade infrastructure for the agricultural sector, and facilitate farmer organisations and linkages to agribusiness.

Meanwhile, a World Bank-financed project on poverty reduction has been successful in northern mountainous Hoa Binh province. After six years of implementation, the number of poor households has fallen from 33 percent to just 10 percent.

The project has helped build over 305km of roads, 89 dams, 33 irrigation and 35 safe water supply works, more than 300 schools and 17 communal medical stations in the province. It has been carried out in 448 villages in the province’s 60 specially-difficult communes with a total investment of over VND352 billion, including VND298 billion from the WB.