Honeydew melon grown using advanced farming techniques in Ninh Thuan province’s Ninh Son district. (Photo: VNA) Ninh Thuan (VNS/VNA) - The south-central province of Ninh Thuanhas done well in developing its rural areas after 10 years of implementing thenational programme on building new-style rural areas, according to its steeringcommittee for the programme.
The annual income of rural people has climbed to nearly 26 million VND (1,120USD) now, 2.16 times the 2011 figure.
Of its 47 rural communes, 26 meet all 19 criteria set under the programme.
The criteria are related to planning, infrastructure, transport, irrigation,electricity, income, education and training, healthcare, environment, foodsafety, social security, culture and others.
Ninh Phuoc district became the first district to be acknowledged last year.
Quang Dai Hoang, an ethnic Cham living in the district’s Phuoc Hau commune,said: “The material and spiritual lives of people have been enhanced.”
Most houses here have been repaired or built well, he said.
Most roads in Ninh Phuoc are paved with cement or asphalt and all rural roadsare lit at night, he said.
The district mobilised more than 2.3 trillion VND (98.9 million USD) fromvarious sources, including 425 billion VND from the people, for the programmein the last 10 years.
Dang Kim Cuong, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said the programme has been implemented widely, and rural peoplehave actively participated in it.
They have contributed labour, money and land for building infrastructurefacilities and participate in monitoring, managing and using infrastructure,thus improving the quality of implementation of the programme, he said.
The province has boosted the use of advanced farming techniques and createdfavourable conditions for farmers, co-operatives and companies to developlinkages in producing and consuming key agricultural products like grape,jujube, asparagus, goats, sheep, and cows.
Though it has the least rainfall in the country, it is the largest producer ofgrape, jujube, goat, and sheep. It has more than 138,000 goats and nearly130,000 sheep, according to the department.
Its livestock are prized for their quality because they eat mostly naturalfood, grazing in pastures.
To help farmers improve their incomes from raising goats and sheep, theprovince has increasingly piloted and taught them new techniques, improvedstrains and zoned pastures for them.
Its goats have a collective brand name while its sheep have been geographicalindication certification from the National Office of Intellectual Property.
Association contributions
The province’s associations, unions and organisations have carried out manymovements to achieve the programme criteria.
They have also carried out many advocacy activities to increase awareness ofthe benefits of the programme in rural areas.
Besides teaching farmers about advanced farming techniques and efficientmodels, the province Farmers Association has also organised many activities andcontests to attract farmers to the programme.
A contest called “Farmers compete together in combination with building newstyle-rural areas” has attracted farmers to the programme and increased theirawareness of building new-style rural areas.
The province’s Women’s Union at all levels has carried out various activitiesand movements to implement the programme criteria such as income, transport,environment and food safety, and social security.
They have taught vocational skills to more than 6,600 members and found jobsfor more than 7,680 since 2010.
Besides helping members find jobs, the province’s Women’s Union has alsoorganised courses in legal regulations such as the Law on Marriage and Family,the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control, the Law on Gender Equalityand others to ensure social security and protect the environment.
Nguyen Thi Ngan Hanh, Vice Chairwoman of the provincial Women’s Union, said:“During the implementation of the programme the province’s women’s unions atall levels combined the advocacy of the programme with implementation.”
They were determined that advocacy should be done regularly and long term, sheadded.
In 2021-2025, the province plans to mobilise 4.2 trillion VND (180 million USD)from various sources to implement the programme on building new-style ruralareas.
The province aims to have three entire districts and 75 percent of its communesrecognised as new-style rural areas by 2025, and increase the rural income 1.8fold from 2020.
To meet the targets, the province will focus on teaching vocational skills andproviding jobs and speed up the restructure of agriculture production towardsadapting to climate change.
It will teach farmers advanced techniques and develop linkages between farmersand companies to ensure outlets for the former’s produce.
It will focus on implementing policies to develop rural services andrestructuring the rural economy towards increasing the proportion of servicesand industry and reducing the rate of agriculture./.
VNA
