Kien Giang province’s Go Quao district has built new roads and bridges that have helped improve the quality of life of local residents. (Photo: VNA) Kien Giang (VNA) - The living conditions of residents in Go Quao district, which has thelargest number of Khmer people in Kiên Giang province, has improvedsignificantly in recent years thanks to “new-style” rural areas.
Construction ofinfrastructure in the district, where morethan 31 percent of people are Khmer ethnic minority, such as electricity, cleanwater and rural roads in recent years has contributed to a better quality oflife. Roads to villages in the district have been paved and trees have beenplanted.
Danh Chach, a Khmer inThuy Lieu commune, said that previously his family had planted rice and had anunstable income.
Under the nationalnew-style rural area programme, local authorities encouraged his family toswitch to other higher profit crops.
He now takes part inplanting trees along roads, and building toilets, rural bridges and roads, whichare part of activities of the new-style rural areas.
In the 2016-2018 period,the district spent more than 468 billion VND (20.15 million USD) from the Statebudget and the contribution of local residents and businesses for new-stylerural areas.
The district targetshaving its communes meet all criteria of the national new-style rural areaprogramme by the end of next year.
Vo Van Tra, Chairman ofthe district’s People’s Committee, said that besides participating inactivities to build new-style rural areas, many Khmer have applied farmingmodels and used State-provided soft loans to escape poverty.
The district has alsoprovided advanced farming techniques for its major agricultural products suchas rice, shrimp and pineapple.
The district’s averageincome per capita increased from 38.2 million VND (1,640 USD) in 2017 to 41.6million VND (1,790 USD) by the end of last year, according to the district’sPeople’s Committee.
The district’s povertyrate fell from 7 percent in 2018 to 5.3 percent by the end of last year. Thepoverty rate of Khmer people in the district now equals the district’s generalrate.
Go Quao district iswell-known for its sweet, fragrant pineapple loved by many consumers. The district has 3,700haof pineapple, mostly in Vinh Phuoc A, Vinh Hoa Hung Nam, Vinh Thang and ThoiQuan communes.
Local authorities haveimplemented measures to increase the value of the fruit by building acollective brand name for the fruit and encouraging farmers to participate incooperatives to produce the fruit on a large scale.
In November 2017, theNational Office of Intellectual Property granted a collective brand namefor Vinh Phuoc A pineapple.-VNA
VNA
