The northern province of Vinh Phuc is focusing all resources to develop traditional craft villages in an effort to provide more jobs and increase incomes for locals, especially those in rural areas.

Currently, the province has over 19,300 rural production facilities operating mainly in the fields of agro-forestry-fishery product processing, handicrafts, stone carving, ornamental plants and animals, and construction materials.

Some trade villages that have their products shipped abroad include Hai Luu stone carving village in Song Lo district, Trieu De rattan village in Lap Thach, Thanh Lang carpentry village in Binh Xuyen, and Vinh Son snake and Ly Nhan forge village in Vinh Tuong.

The villages have created jobs for up to 60,000 rural labourers, with an average monthly income of 1.7-1.9 million VND (80-90 USD) per person.

Their development has contributed to boosting the local economic structure transfer and forming closer links in production.

However, trade villages in Vinh Phuc still face numerous difficulties as most of them are running small-scale production with out-of-date technology and limited markets.

To deal with the situation, the province has applied a number of measures and policies to maintain and develop the villages, including the formation of industrial and crafts clusters.

It has invested 219 billion VND (10.4 million USD) in developing eight crafts clusters on an area of 81 hectares.

The locality sets a target of establishing 24 industrial clusters by 2015 to attract small and medium-sized enterprises and households.

In addition, Vinh Phuc has also focused on training skilled workers, teaching the crafts to young people, and assisting the villages in exporting their products.

According to Nguyen Van Kiem, Chairman of the Vinh Phuc Cooperative Alliance, together with mobilising resources for crafts development, the province has set up a fund to support the restoration and development of the traditional trade villages.-VNA