The official said that ten provinces and cities had volunteered to take part in the campaign: Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, Nam Dinh in the north, Ha Tinh in the central region, Lam Dong in the Central Highlands, Ninh Thuan, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and HCM City in the south. The campaign has been carried out in Ha Tinh Province on a trial basis.
According to La Van Ly, Chief of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Cooperative Department, 60.7% of the workforce is in the countryside. Rural people account for 74% of Vietnam’s population and agriculture contributes up to 21% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
This campaign, thus, aims to call for the attention of all sectors and agencies to build and develop new rural areas.
The resolution of the 10th National Party Congress points out requirements for the building of new rural areas, with the following goals: GDP of agriculture is over 4% a year; 75% of rural households have clean water, 100% of communes have roads to their centres; over 95% of households have electricity; the rate of poor and hungry families does not exceed 11%.
However, Deputy Minister Hung said that the MARD was still unsure about the specific criteria for this campaign and would work out an action plan.
“Without defining how the new rural areas will be and the specific targets of the programme, modernisation and industrialisation of the rural areas can’t be successful,” Mr Hung said.
From now to June, MARD will survey some northern provinces before officially launching the campaign throughout the country