Quang Ngai (VNA) - Povertyalleviation programmes aiming to help people in mountainous areas of central QuangNgai province are ineffective and unsustainable, local authorities said.

Luong Kim Son, Director of the provincialDepartment of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said the many social aidprogrammes carried out over the past few years had helped improve lives,especially of ethnic minority people in remote mountainous areas.

However, he said the established model forproviding poor people with Zebu cows, Bach Thao goats, rabbits, wild boars, DongNai bananas, and other crops have shown shortcomings.

Pham Van Na, a farmer in Ba To district’s BaGiang commune, was among six households given 11 goats by local authorities todevelop goat farming in the commune. But shortly after they were handed out,the goats were all dead.

Na said the weather of the mountainous areawas not suitable for the animals. He and other farmers had no experienceraising goats and received little instruction, leading to the deaths of theanimals.

Ho Van Xoay, a farmer in Tay Tra district’s TraPhong commune, has kept empty iron cages in his garden for nearly two years.The cages, together with 10 rabbits, were given to him to develop a rabbit farmin the commune.

Xoay said the herd of rabbits died after justthree months. Other households in the commune had similar experiences, withtotal losses comprising more than 50 animals worth a combined 50 million VND(2,100 USD).

Xoay and other farmers did exactly as localofficers instructed, and did not know what caused the deaths.

Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of TraKhe commune Ho Van Truc said these attempts failed because of the loose managementof local authorities, which provided animals and seedlings without educatingfarmers on the basic skills needed to care for them.

He pointed out that farmers were not providedwith crops and animals suitable for the area’s climate and the farming habitsof local people.

Son agreed, saying that providing aid withoutany education would only make people dependent on local government. Theseshortcomings had seen successive programmes fail and the rate of povertyremained high.

Huynh Thi Thanh Thuy, head of Tay Tra district’sDivision of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the division wanted theprogrammes to have a lasting economic effect on participating farmers, but didnot carefully consider weather and local customs in deciding what help toprovide.

The province has approved a new programme thatwill give financial and technical support to those who produce certainhigh-value agricultural products, especially in poverty-hit Son Tay and Tay Tradistricts.

Between 2011 and 2016, 2.2 trillion VND (92.4million USD) went into programmes to fight poverty in six districts of theprovince.

Quang Ngai plans to spend an additional 10.7trillion VND (449.4 million USD) on aid by 2020.-VNA