Socio-Economy

Vietnam has dealt historically with health as a valuable asset, a resource that was distributed in an

equal manner to all citizens through the development of a wide and inclusive grassroots health

network during the 1970s. Since then, the health system has developed -in parallel to the country's

economy and shifts in policy- from a free-for-all service of a rather low quality, to a system that is

now better regulated and has overall better quality, but is conditioned to user fees.

The transportation of goods by road is also gaining of importance. Like the Mekong Delta waterways, the roads also registered a net increase of transported freight over the past years. Thus the volume of goods transported by road in the Mekong Delta Provinces grew between 2003 and 2006 by 25 %, from 15.699.200 to 19.694.400 tons.

By issuing decree 1402/BNN-TL the government of Vietnam started a new investment program for upgrading the pumping station infrastructure of the Mekong Delta. This program is part of the government’s new policy on integrated rural development (Tam Nong).

Vietnam’s agrarian system has profoundly changed since the government initiated its renovation policy in 1986. Various policy directives and institutional reforms have been aimed at increasing the production of cash crops for the export markets and ensuring the nation’s food security. The government has undertaken considerable investments in irrigation and water control to boost local rice production, especially in the Mekong Delta.

During the past decades, hydraulic engineering and management have been crucial for the Mekong Delta’s agricultural production growth. A number of canals, dykes and sluices have been constructed and pumping stations have been set up.

Aquaculture, in particular fish farming (mainly catfish) has developed rapidly and became a key economic sector in Can Tho City during recent years. The aquaculture boom began at the end of the 1990s, when farmers in upstream areas of Can Tho started to grow fish, influenced by their peers from neighboring An Giang where the upswing of freshwater aquaculture started a bit earlier.

Fish farming in the Mekong Delta has developed rapidly since the Vietnamese government’ s agricultural policy shifted away from mono-cultural rice production to more diversified models of farming systems (at the end of the 1990s).

The revival of large-scale agricultural production units, as already existed once before in the colonial period, seems to be a new trend in the Mekong Delta. In 2007, the number of farms in Can Tho was 309, of which 156 were operating in the fish farming sector.