Poverty reduction efforts during the 2005-2012 period reached positive outcomes across Vietnam , according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The ministry’s report to an inspection team from the National Assembly said from 2009 to June 2013, the country generated jobs for nearly 5 million rural workers with a majority of 96 percent working at home.

More than 1.4 million people benefited from the Government’s scheme to provide vocational training for rural workers. Nearly 80 percent of the beneficiaries secured new jobs or maintained their prior ones with higher income and productivity.

Many poor households in rural areas have been equipped with farming techniques and a better understanding of the importance of forest protection, the ministry told the inspection team of the National Assembly Standing Committee at a February 12 working session in Hanoi .

Latest statistics showed the poverty rate, under national poverty line, dropped from 58.1 percent in 1993 down to 14.8 percent in 2007 and 7.8 percent in 2013.

Due to its achievements in poverty reduction, Vietnam was among 38 countries honoured by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in June last year.-VNA