A worker harvests rubber latex in a farm in the Central Highlands of Gia Lai. (Photo: VNA)The Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) will be given close to60.64 trillion VND and the Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (VinaCafe) willget nearly 2.28 billion VND from the 2021 central budget in pursuant toDecision 42/2021/QD-TTg dated October 8, 2012 on provision of support foremployers of ethnic minority people from mountainous and extremely disadvantagedareas.
The Ministry of Finance was assigned to manage anddisburse the funding in line with current regulations.
The move forms part of the government’s efforts toimprove livelihoods of ethnic minorities in remote and disadvantaged regions.
Rubber and coffee have been among Vietnam’s key currencyearners for years. Last year, the country’s rubber and coffee export value hit 2.4billion USD and 2.7 billion USD, respectively.
The two agricultural products are largely grown in thenorthern mountainous, Central Highlands and Southeast regions which are endowedwith nutrient-rich red basalt soil. The regions are mainly inhabited by ethnicminority people, a majority of whom have been struggling with manydifficulties.
According to a 2019 survey by the Committee on EthnicMinority Affairs, Vietnam is home to 14.1 million ethnic minority people,accounting for 14.7 percent of the total population. It also revealed that thepercentage of poor and near-poor households in ethnic minority inhabited areasis 3.5 times higher than the country’s average./.
VNA
