Vietnam has made outstanding progress in improving its people’s life quality, however, some rural areas have yet to benefit from national economic growth, reported the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM).
According to the CIEM’s 2012 survey of rural households in 12 provinces, family income and spending were on the decrease while the rate of poor households in 2010-2012 did not drop, meaning that more households fell back into poverty. The monthly income of a household living entirely on agriculture averaged only 1,458,000 VND (nearly 70 USD).
The survey pointed out that there remains a big gap in economic growth and provision of social welfare among cities and provinces nationwide, with households in mountainous areas, particularly in the northwestern region, are poorer and less able to access safe water and quality housing.
Northwestern mountainous provinces such as Lao Cai, Dien Bien and Lai Chau lag far behind other localities in terms of income, service access and market connectivity.
While the shifting of economic structure is impacting on rural areas, farming remains a major means of livelihood among a majority of rural families.
As a result, up to 47 percent of survey respondents are unsatifisfied or totally unhappy with their lives.
The CIEM experts suggested the Government continue to prioritise investment in workforce and infrastructure in mountainous rural areas to help farmers increase their products’ value. At the same time, policies on domestic migration should be revised to enable migrants to better tap job chances.
They said the State should work out measures to make farmers more risk-resilient by offering them agriculture insurance and develop land market in rural areas.
Meanwhile, Prof. Finn Tarp from Denmark’s Copenhaghen University recommended Vietnam to devise policies based on the survey results in order to bring more benefits from economic growth to rural areas.-VNA
