The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on October 25 approved a US $108-million assistance package to upgrade rural roads and irrigation systems in 15 mountainous provinces in Northern Vietnam, where more than one in four families live in poverty.
The project will support the upgrading of 600 km of rural roads, and better irrigation for 12,400 ha of farmland.
It will also help 10 communes develop local trade.
The project is expected to help farming communities boost their rice yield by 25%, and enable them to meet market demands and cultivate more profitable crops, said David Salter, rural development specialist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department.
Travel time, efforts and costs will be reduced by an average of 55% while transport reliability will increase, enabling farmers map out strategic marketing options, added the specialist./.