Thanks to the renovation of policies in Vietnam, the rural economy has recently attained many positive achievements. From a country that had to import cereal food regularly, Vietnam has increasingly become one of the world's leading agricultural exporters of crops such as rice, coffee and cashew nuts. However, Vietnam is facing major challenges, such as falling world prices for agricultural products. The annual growth rate of Vietnamese agriculture has fallen from 6.88% in 1992 to 2.75% at the end of2001, and the contribution of agriculture and fisheries to the gross domestic product (GDP) has dropped (33.94% in 1992 compared to 23.30% in 2001). Most of the Vietnamese population comprises rural households, 16% of which are living in poverty, according to 2001 statistics. The Vietnamese Government is determined and striving to improve the farmers' living standard, with the aim of decreasing the number of poor families by 50% by 2010.
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