Vietnam recorded impressive growth during the 1990s, and agriculture played a key role in this achievement. Doi moi—a comprehensive reform program launched in 1986—marked the beginning of the transition from a planned to a market economy. Decollectivization of land, dismantling of barriers to production,and freeing up of the agricultural terms of trade benefited a vast majority of the population, especially the rural poor whose livelihoods were closely linked to subsistence agriculture. In fact, Vietnam emerged as an early achiever in a majority of the Millennium Development Goal targets, including halving of extreme poverty. Moreover, in the face of growing vulnerability to natural disasters (eg, extreme weather events), epidemics (eg,SARS and avian influenza), and market volatility (eg, fluctuating primary commodity world prices), the Vietnamese economy has shown remarkable resilience. There is, however, concern that agricultural growth is slowing down, inequality is rising, and poverty reduction is slackening.