Mr. Son: Lack of production land for people in especially difficult areas

(Baonghean.vn) - This issue was raised at a meeting between the Ethnic Committee of the Provincial People's Council and the People's Committee of Anh Son district according to the plan to supervise the implementation of policies to support production development for extremely disadvantaged communes, border areas, and safe zones under programs 30a and 135 on the afternoon of September 27.

Mr. Hoang Cuong - Vice Chairman of Anh Son District People's Committee reported on some results of implementing production support policies in the area. Photo: Mai Hoa

According to a report from Anh Son district, 7/21 communes are extremely disadvantaged and border areas, with a total of 50 extremely disadvantaged villages, including 16 extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority areas. These are establishments that benefit from the production development support policy under the Government's Program 135.

Accordingly, the total number of poor and near-poor households supported in the 3 years 2014-2016 is 1,801 households, including support for cows, goats, sows, chickens, hybrid corn, industrial tea, fertilizers, and training in science and technology in animal husbandry and cultivation.

In general, the policies to support production development under the 135 program have had a positive impact, increasing income for many beneficiary households. The evidence is that 348/1801 households have benefited from the poverty reduction policy, accounting for 19.32%.

Based on the actual monitoring at Veu 4 village, Phuc Son commune, Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Legal Committee of the Provincial People's Council, a member of the monitoring delegation, requested the district to provide practical information on the selection of local livestock breed suppliers and the quality of the breeds.

The delegation supervises the implementation of policies to support tea development in Veu village, Phuc Son commune. Photo: Minh Chi

Responding to this issue, Mr. Nguyen Thai Son, an expert of the district People's Committee, affirmed that the district has long implemented support for breeding animals in two ways: either assigning communes to discuss and agree with the people to buy breeding animals themselves, the district only supervises and checks breeding animals to pay for expenses (there are 2 communes, Cao Son and Lang Son, that do this); or for communes that do not have the conditions, the district will find suppliers, with control over breeding quality and localities, and people have the right to refuse to receive if they are not satisfied with the breeding animals.

Ms. Luc Thi Lien - Deputy Head of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of the Provincial People's Council raised concerns that Anh Son is a district with a large production forest area, with a total of more than 22,284 hectares, but there are still some households in extremely difficult areas lacking production land.

Some members of the monitoring team asked the district to clarify the selection of beneficiaries; price determination and livestock allocation; the assurance and timeliness of support sources under the program, the effectiveness of training and guidance on livestock and crop farming techniques, the percentage of households allocated forest land, etc.

Explaining why the rate of households escaping poverty is low, Mr. Hoang Xuan Cuong - Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee said that the capital support from policies is small and fragmented; after investing in implementing the model effectively, there is a lack of funding to replicate the model.

"Each beneficiary household is only supported with 1 cow or 1 goat, or 1 pig, or 10 chickens. How can they escape poverty when it is only additional support?" - Mr. Hoang Xuan Cuong emphasized.

Deputy Head of the Ethnic Committee of the Provincial People's Council Luc Thi Lien concluded at the meeting. Photo: Minh Chi

Concluding the meeting, on behalf of the monitoring delegation, Ms. Luc Thi Lien - Deputy Head of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of the Provincial People's Council requested Anh Son district to continue to direct and implement well, bringing support policies to beneficiaries, paying attention to selecting beneficiaries democratically, objectively, and correctly.

The Deputy Head of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of the Provincial People's Council also requested the district to pay attention to building economic models and projects; at the same time, launching departments, offices and district-level agencies to have many practical activities to support especially difficult communes and villages, in order to quickly reduce the poverty rate.

The representative of the monitoring delegation emphasized the need to strengthen inspection and supervision of policies under Program 135, including policies to support production development, and at the same time have plans to ensure that people have land for production, thereby sustainably reducing poverty.

Minh Chi