Vietnam Starts $301M Agro Restructure Project Funded by WB

Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development last week started a $301 million project named Sustainable Agriculture Transformation and funded by the World Bank (WB), state media has reported. The project, to be implemented in the 2016-2020 period, aims to contribute to the implementation of the agricultural restructuring plan by building capacity, stimulating organizational development of the sector and re-organizing production to increase value added and sustainability of rice and coffee sub-sectors in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands region. It contains four components: i) building capacity and stimulating organizational development in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and its selected provincial departments, project participating provinces and value chain players (including banks); ii) enhancing sustainable development in rice production; iii) enhancing sustainable development of coffee production; and iv) providing necessary tools and training to monitor and manage the project. Project provinces include five Central Highlands provinces and eight Mekong Delta provinces and seven northern and central provinces. The WB will provide $250 million, the private sector will contribute $38.7 billion and the remaining $12.3 million will come from the state budget. (Nong Nghiep Vietnam – Vietnam Agriculture Jan 18)