The progress of new rural development is reflected in the improvementof farmers’ spiritual and material lives, said National AssemblyChairman Nguyen Sinh Hung at a conference to review the five-yearimplementation of a Party resolution on agriculture, farmers and ruralareas held in Hanoi on January 3.

Agriculture,farmers and rural areas are strategic issues, thus industrialisation andmodernisation must be implemented in agricultural productionactivities. Farmers need new technologies and skills to increase theiragricultural productivity, added the NA Chairman who is also Head of theSteering Board Committee on the implementation of the Party CentralCommittee’s Resolution 7 (10 th tenure) on agriculture, farmers andrural areas.

According to the Steering BoardCommittee, agricultural production has been much improved in bothquality and quantity, contributing to national food security, jobcreation and a rising export level following five years of implementingthe Resolution on agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

Education, healthcare and culture in rural areas have benefited frominvestment. As a result, farmers’ material and spiritual wellbeing havebeen much improved. The outlook of rural areas has changed towardsmodernisation and progress.

Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Minister Cao Duc Phat noted that 93.1 percent of thecountry’s villages have completed their new rural area constructionmaster plans. By September 2013, villages on average had achieved eightout of a total of 19 national criteria set for new rural development.

Average income per capita in rural areas is estimatedat 19.97 million VND (nearly 950 USD) in 2013, 2.18 times more than2008, said the minister. The household poverty rate in 2013 was 12.6percent, representing a drop of two percent every year since 2008.

Minister Phat also noted that the agriculturalgrowth rate continued to decline, modernisation in agriculturalproduction was slow, and the competitiveness and productivity of manyagricultural products remained weak. Income inequality between urban andrural residents was high. Private investment in rural areas fell from1.48 percent (2004-2008) to 0.89 percent (2009-2013). Over the last fiveyears, 3,486 private businesses have been established with a totalinvestment capital of over 126 trillion VND, but another 475 businesseshave been shut down.

The Government hasspent a lot of money developing rural infrastructure over the last fiveyears. Hydraulic infrastructure investment has been prioritised toensure irrigation and drainage works. Irrigation and drainage haveeffectively served production in rural areas. The total irrigationcapacity reached 6.92 million hectares of rice crops and 1.5 million ofother crops, and the total drainage capacity covered 1.75 millionhectares of agricultural land. To date, 98 percent of villages have wideroads to drive vehicles to the village centre.

Nguyen Quoc Cuong, Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers’ Association,expressed his opinions on the issue at the review conference, sayingthat suitable policies relating to small production, investment, creditand insurance need to be offered to the right people at the right time.

The Steering Board Committee concluded that newrural development requires flexible and practical policies. The dutiesand responsibilities of individuals and collectives should be clarified.Diversified resources and community participation should be enhanced.To make the new rural development programme successful, it needs tohave road maps and rational steps based on local resources and the roleof local people.-VNA