Tra Vinh: 6.2 mln USD to be spent on climate adaptation

Tra Vinh (VNA) -  Nearly 143 billion VND (6.2 million USD) will be spent to help farmers in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh promote production models against climate change in 2018 in the framework of the on-going project Adaptation to Climate Change in the Mekong Delta (AMD).

According to the project’s provincial coordination board, over 34.2 billion VND (1.5 million USD) of the amount will be the non-refundable aid from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and over 64.7 billion VND (2.8 million USD) is sourced by IFAD loans, while the provincial budget pays more than 23 billion VND (over 1 million USD). 

Huynh Nghia Tho, Director of the AMD Tra Vinh, said over 97 billion VND (4.2 million USD) out of the total will be used to improve livelihoods and build small-scale infrastructure facilities in adaptation to climate change; support poor and near poor households in investing in technology applications in production; and organise vocational training for rural labourers.

As planned, the project will focus on building 26 communal-level infrastructure works; expanding sustainable livelihood models, putting into operation a fisheries analysis and testing centre, and an automatic salinity prediction and water quality  monitoring system.

In 2017, the project disbursed 125 billion VND (over 5.4 million USD) to help local farmers adapt to climate change through implementing 15 pilot production models joined by 113 households.

The project also spent 27.2 billion VND (nearly 1.2 million USD) on the construction 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 million USD), is being implemented in 30 communes between 2014 -2020, benefiting 15,000 poor and near-poor households.

Its main objective is to develop sustainable livelihoods for the rural poor in the face of changing climate and to enhance the target communities’ capacities to adapt to climate change.-VNA