In recent years, the poverty rate among fruit farmers in the rural Mekong Delta has declined more rapidly than among all rural households in the region and in Vietnam. This is despite huge fluctuations in export markets for fruit in the last decade. The findings from this case study in three rural settlements in Tien Giang and Vinh Long provinces suggest that the main driver of rural development is a positive reciprocal relationship between urban centres and farming and a strong role for small towns in local economic growth and poverty reduction.