3:26:28 PM | 7/8/2005
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has essentially completed negotiations for the signing of 38 projects on agricultural development in 2005, with a total funding of more than US$800 million.
The Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) daily newspaper on Janu 9 quoted a MARD source as saying that the funding will include US$686 million in bank loans and US$133 million in non-refundable aid.
The money will be mainly invested in upgrading and improving the capacity of irrigation works, developing materials supply areas for processing factories, developing science and technology to raise the quality of plant and animal varieties; and speeding up forest planting to cover waste land and inundated hills.
In related news, The agriculture ministry also plans to invest an additional VND1,179 billion (US$75 million) in irrigation works this year. In 2004, the ministry put into operation 103 irrigation works, watering for additional 52,000 hectares of cultivation lands.
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