As many as 63 farmers from all over the country are to be honoured at a ceremony in Hanoi on October 11 for their outstanding production efforts and contributions to building new-style rural areas.

The award programme, the second of its kind, is co-organised by the Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper, Binh Dien Fertiliser JSC, and Vietnam Television, the organising board said in a press briefing on October 7.

The event aims to recognise and promote the role of Vietnamese farmers in national construction, defence and development.

The awardees include six rice farmers, six fishermen, two farmers who stood out for their support for building new-style rural areas, and 40 farmers with integrated agricultural production models.

The selected farmers proved their outstanding performance in production and new-style rural area building, said Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Farmers’ Association Central Committee Nguyen Hong Ly, who is also head of the organising board.

They also developed practical scientific initiatives and inventions of high economic value, she added.

Also at the press briefing, the organising board granted awards to the winners of a writing contest titled “Outstanding Vietnamese farmer 2014”, selected from nearly 1,000 submissions.

The competition was launched last year by the Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper and the Binh Dien Fertiliser JSC launched the writing competition to promote best practices in farming.-VNA