Kien Giang (VNS/VNA) - The lives of ethnic people in the MekongDelta province of Kien Giang have improved in recent years with the provinceimplementing several measures for their socio-economic upliftment.

In 2016 -18 the province spent more than 194 billion VND (8.3 million USD) tobuild infrastructure like bridges, roads and water supply facilities in ethnic minorityareas and give housing and farming land to ethnic people, according to theprovince’s Ethnic Minority Affairs Board.

The province also undertook many programmes and campaigns to help poor ethnicpeople, mobilising more than 800 billion VND (34.4 million USD) from individualand organisational donors for the purpose.

The Kenh 2 Hamlet Khmer Women’s Union in Vinh Thuan district’s Tan Thuan communehas for instance helped its members abandon backward customs and taught themeffective farming models to improve their incomes.

The union’s programme of “three cleans” (clean home, clean kitchen and cleanstreet) has improved the living conditions and reduced sickness in the hamlet.

The union established a co-operative group for rotating rice with other cropsin 2013 and admitted 21 local households as members so far. They are taughtfarming techniques and provided with soft loans.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Tinh, secretary of the Kenh 2 Hamlet Party Committee,the rice yields of the participating households have increased from seventonnes per hectare per crop to eight tonnes.

They can earn an average of 150 million VND (6,445 USD) per hectare fromgrowing a crop of water melon, cucumber or pumpkin.

Thi Um, one of the group members, said her family used to grow two rice crops ayear but the income was not enough to cover the family’s expenses.

After joining the group, her family has begun to use advanced farmingtechniques to increase yield.

“Thanks to the group, my family has repaid all its debts and built a new houseworth 150 million VND,” she said.

The province Women’s Union has given 100 million VND (4,300 USD) to the Hamlet2 Khmer Women’s Union to provide loans to the group members for growing crops.

In Giang Thanh district’s Vinh Dieu commune, many poor Khmer households haveescaped poverty through the province’s support policies.

In 2003 some 320 poor families, nearly half of them Khmer, in Giong Rieng, ChauThanh, Go Quao, and An Bien districts moved to live in Vinh Dieu bordercommune.

After the families moved in there, local authorities built roads and powersupply and irrigation systems and gave them soft loans.

Every year the commune People’s Committee calls on donors to build houses forpoor Khmer people.  

The commune has carried out effective farming models like raising buffalos andcows and growing lotus in rice fields.

Danh Nho, whose family was among those that migrated there, said after morethan 10 years of living there and with the province’s support policies, his andother Khmer families had stable lives and houses to live in.

“My children have been educated well and have proper jobs.”

After moving to the commune, Nho was given 3ha of farmlands and money toprepare the land for growing crops.

In 2012 he received 20 million VND (859 USD) to build a house and soft loansfor growing crops.

The province has 285,550 people belonging to 26 ethnic minorities, who make up15.4 percent of the total population.

Of them, 237,867 are Khmer.

The average income in ethnic areas increased from 29 million VND (1,250 USD) in2015 to 39 million VND (1,680 USD) last year, said the board.

The number of poor ethnic households in the province reduced from 10,346 to4,845./.