Addressing the 2009 meeting of the International Support Group on ODA provision for agriculture and rural development in Hanoi on October 28, WB Country Director Victoria Kwakwa said that Vietnam is using ODA in this field very effectively although the disbursement pace remains slow.

(VietnamPlus, 29/10/2009)

She praised the country’s successes in reducing poverty and attributed it to the shift in the country’s agricultural structure.

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, ODA capital has played an active part in Vietnam’s quest to develop agriculture and rural areas.

During the 1993-2008 period, 5.5 billion USD of ODA has been pumped into agricultural development and poverty reduction programmes, accounting for 40-50 percent of the capital of development projects and programmes managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The ODA funding has helped the agriculture sector to create and adjust its strategies and policies on agricultural development, said Minister Phat, saying that he hoped to continue gather support from international donors in the near future.

The agriculture sector is set to attract more international funding to improve the living conditions of rural people, especially poor people, and develop the infrastructure to achieve sustainable and stable farming production.

This source of capital is expected to be used to raise the output, quality and competitiveness of Vietnamese farm products and provide vocational training and new technologies for farmers.