"Vietnam's track record is one of the best in the world. They are absolutely a role model within East Asia and more broadly in the world," says Steve Price-Thomas, Oxfam's Vietnam country director. According to Halving Hunger: Still Possible?, Vietnam has cut hunger and reduced poverty from about 58 percent of the population in 1993 to just 18 percent today. "To put this in perspective, this means that since 1993 roughly 6,000 people per day have been pulled out of hunger poverty," Price-Thomas said.
By focusing on agricultural land reform, Vietnam has made land distribution more equitable, invested heavily in irrigation and agricultural technology and maintained restrictions on rice exports until 2001, nurturing the domestic industry.
Source: IRIN
