Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has urged the political system and the whole of society to build a stronger peasantry while calling for significant changes in the awareness and responsibility for agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

The Party chief was speaking at the sixth congress of the Vietnam Farmers’ Association which commenced in Hanoi on July 1 with the participation of nearly 1,200 delegates representing over 10 million members nationwide.

Former Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu and Nong Duc Manh, President Truong Tan Sang, Former President Tran Duc Luong, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, Former NA Chairman Nguyen Van An, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Huynh Dam also attended the event.

Praising farmers and the association’s significant achievements over the years, Party General Secretary Trong asked the delegates to focus their discussion on orientations to build the peasantry in the context of industrialisation, modernisation and international integration.

How to promote the association’s role in representing and protecting farmers’ legal rights and interests in the market economy, and improve the quality as well as the efficiency of farmers’ movements should also be tabled, he said.

Trong called for the better following of President Ho Chi Minh’s moral example, as well as the development of efficient production models to contribute to ensuring national food security and building new-style rural areas.

He proposed the association pay attention to working closely with ministries and branches to assist farmers in terms of finance, legal issues, science-technology, developing brand names and connecting with the market during the process of agricultural restructuring and rural economic transfer.

Vocational training, job generation, income increase and sustainable poverty reduction should be the association’s priorities, the Party chief noted.

The association was also asked to reinforce itself in order to bring into full play its central role in farmers’ movements as well as the campaign of building new-style rural areas.

All levels of the association’s branches need to pay attention to building villages and farming families of culture, while raising their voice against negative deeds such as violence against women and children, he said.

The Party General Secretary described the building of a strong workers-farmers-intellectuals alliance under the Party’s leadership as a special and important task in the course of strengthening the national great unity bloc.

He urged party committees and authorities at grassroots levels to create favourable conditions for the association’s members to get involved in devising, supervising and contributing their ideas to policies and programmes on building new-style rural areas, agricultural insurance and health insurance in order to ensure pensions for farmers.

Trong asked the association to seriously implement the resolution adopted at the seventh conference of the Party Central Committee regarding the mass mobilisation work.

Addressing the congress, VFF leader Huynh Dam underlined the association’s significant contributions to consolidating the national great unity bloc and improving the efficiency of the patriotic emulation movement among farmers.

President of the Vietnam Farmers’ Association Nguyen Quoc Cuong said with the theme “Solidarity, renovation, integration and sustainable development”, the congress took place as the country summons resources for building new-style rural areas.

Pointing to difficulties and challenges facing the country’s agricultural and rural areas, he commanded the association’s branches to continue revamping its mobilisation methods.

The congress also evaluated the association’s performance over the last tenure, affirming its role in the country’s agricultural development, building new-style rural areas and developing the peasantry.

The Vietnam Farmers’ Association’s Congress will run through July 3.-VNA