Hanoi’s rural development efforts improve local living standards

Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi has invested greatly in building new-style rural areas over the past few years, helping improve the living standards of rural residents, said a municipal official.

Building new-style rural areas is a national target programme launched in 2010 that aims to promote the development of rural regions of Vietnam.

At a meeting on October 16, Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Ngo Thi Thanh Hang lauded the programme’s outcomes across the capital city.

Hanoi has invested more than 26.8 trillion VND (1.14 billion USD) in building new-style rural areas since 2016, including nearly 10 trillion VND (427.9 million USD) in the first nine months of 2018. That has helped improve people’s living conditions, ensure security in rural areas and boost the city’s agricultural development and economic growth.

Four districts and 294 communes, or 76 percent of total communes in the capital city, have been recognised as new-style rural areas so far.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hanoi has 126 models using high technology in agricultural production, up 20 from 2017.

It has also paid attention to forming value chains from production to consumption in agriculture, raising the number of these models to 118, up 47 from last year.

Local farmers’ living standards have been improved, with per capita income estimated at 43.17 million VND (more than 1,800 USD) per annum as of June 2018. Notably, this figure reaches 52 million VND (more than 2,200 USD) in Thach That district and 47 million USD (2,000 USD) in Dong Anh district.

In rural areas, the rate of households living under the poverty line has dropped to under 2 percent, even 0.48 percent in Quoc Oai, 1 percent in Gia Lam and 1.41 percent in Thanh Tri district.

In Vietnam, 3,542 communes, or 39.7 percent of the total nationwide, have qualified for new-style rural area status. Meanwhile, 55 districts in 28 provinces and cities have achieved all criteria and completed their mission in new-style rural building, according to the national target programme’s Central Coordination Office.–VNA