The new rural area building programme has positively impacted the process of industrialisation and modernisation in the countryside in Ho Chi Minh City, helping narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas.

The assessment was made at a working session between the Economics and Budget Board under the municipal People’s Council and the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on October 23.

The structural shift in agriculture is on the right track, demonstrated by clear changes for the better in rural areas, said Nguyen Van Lam, the board’s deputy head.

Reports presented at the session said monthly per capita income in the city’s rural areas increased from 1.9 million VND (89.3 USD), equivalent to just 66 percent of the level in urban areas in 2010, to 2.727 million VND (128 USD) last year, equivalent to 80 percent of urban areas’ figure.

At the end of 2012, the rate of poor households dropped to 2.12 percent from 5.5 percent recorded in 2010.

According to Nguyen Phuoc Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Areas, the new rural building programme has enabled the city to initially form a modern agricultural sector and boost the development of industry and rural services.

The average GDP growth rate of the agro-forestry-fishery sector reached 5.9 percent during the 2011-2013 period, with hi-tech and large-scale agricultural production expanding, he added. Average output value from one hectare of culivation land has increased from 158 million VND in 2010 to 239 million VND in 2012.

The city has set the target of raising annual output value from one hectare of culivation land to 450 million VND in 2015 and 800 million VND in 2020, while the ratio of poor households according to the latest national standards of 16 million VND in yearly income is projected to be reduced by 2-3 percent per year.

To reach the targets, the city has mapped out a range of solutions, focusing on the development of infrastructure and bio-technology, mechanisation and international cooperation in scientific research.

Pham Van Dong, head of the municipal People’s Council’s Economics and Budget Board, laid stress on improving the quality of rural labour forces in order to fulfill targets set for 2015 and bring practical results for the programme.-VNA