Programme for Improving Market Participation of the Poor in Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh Provinces

The objective of the programme is to raise the incomes of poor rural people in 50 communes in Ha Tinh province and 30 communes in Tra Vinh province by improving their access to labour, finance, commodities and service markets. Poverty rates are high in these communes, and the majority of the population lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence farming.

In Ha Tinh, because of the small size of the average landholding, agriculture remains at subsistence level and the poverty rate is about 40 per cent. In Tra Vinh, one of the poorest provinces in the Mekong Delta, landlessness is a serious problem and 33 per cent of households are poor. There has been a move to diversify and intensify through adoption of higher-value crops.

  The programme will concentrate on:

• adding value to agriculture
• improving key markets and market mechanisms
• creating off-farm employment
• linking market-based initiatives to the needs and priorities of poor communes

It benefits poor people in the two provinces and provides an opportunity to introduce, develop and refine activities that will be relevant on a broader scale in other provinces and at national level. The programme will help raise incomes among poor people, including:

• people who remain in farming
• people who develop rural microenterprises
• people who find permanent employment
• local entrepreneurs who invest in employment-creating opportunities for poor rural people

The programme targets groups of vulnerable poor people such as  households with underemployed members and limited landholdings, women and households headed by women, underemployed young people and ethnic minorities, including the Khmer in Tra Vinh.

The programme emphasizes local participation and promotes poor rural people by: 

• interacting and participating in markets and providing support for market opportunities

• facilitating increased access to jobs by improving job linkages and skills and improving production methods
• financing enterprises through credit and investments
• participating in decision-making for programme activities
• expanding financing for activities that are performing well, through a performance incentive budget 

Source: IFAD