Tra Vinh (VNA) - Nearly 143 billion VND (6.2 million USD) willbe spent to help farmers in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh promote productionmodels against climate change in 2018 in theframework of the on-going project Adaptation to Climate Change inthe Mekong Delta (AMD).
According to the project’s provincial coordination board, over 34.2billion VND (1.5 million USD) of the amount willbe the non-refundable aid from the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD) and over 64.7 billion VND (2.8 million USD) is sourced byIFAD loans, while the provincial budget pays more than 23 billion VND (over 1million USD).
Huynh Nghia Tho, Director of the AMD Tra Vinh, said over 97 billion VND (4.2million USD) out of the total will be used to improve livelihoods and build small-scaleinfrastructure facilities in adaptation to climate change; support poor andnear poor households in investing in technology applications in production; andorganise vocational training for rural labourers.
As planned, the project will focus on building 26 communal-level infrastructureworks; expanding sustainable livelihood models, putting into operation a fisheriesanalysis and testing centre, and an automatic salinity prediction and waterquality monitoring system.
In 2017, the project disbursed 125 billion VND (over 5.4 million USD) to helplocal farmers adapt to climate change through implementing 15 pilot productionmodels joined by 113 households.
The project also spent 27.2 billion VND (nearly 1.2 million USD) on theconstruction of infrastructure facilities in 21 communes, which became operational.
The IFAD-funded AMD Tra Vinh with a total budget of 521 billion VND (over 22.8 millionUSD), is being implemented in 30 communes between 2014 -2020, benefiting 15,000poor and near-poor households.
Its main objective is to develop sustainable livelihoods for the rural poor inthe face of changing climate and to enhance the target communities’ capacitiesto adapt to climate change.-VNA