Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung on July 16 paid a working visit to the northern province of Nam Dinh, with focus on its new rural construction programme.

The implementation of the programme has helped Nam Dinh become one of the top rice producers in the Red River Delta.

At a meeting with provincial authorities, the NA leader asked the province to continue agricultural production restructuring and complete the large-scale rice field model, which is benefiting concerned farmers.

At present, the province has 150 large-scale rice fields, which cover more than 8,700 ha. With the new model, farmers gained around 95 million VND per ha last year, 1.5 times more than in 2008.

The 2010-2015 period of the programme involves 96 communes and towns across the province. The average income of farmers has increased significantly, reaching 20.7 million VND last year from 10.6 million VND in 2008. The rate of poor households also fell dramatically, down to 6.72 percent last year.

Earlier in the morning, Chairman Hung visited Hai Hau district, one of the five localities nationwide selected by the Government to implement the programme on building new rural areas.

Talking with local authorities and people, he highlighted the important role of farmers in the country’s socio-economic development plans.

The final target of the programme is to benefit the people, both materially and spiritually, he stressed.-VNA