The objective of the program was 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 labor, finance, commodities and service markets. Poverty rates are high in these communes, and the majority of the population live in rural areas and depend 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 program focused on the following activities: