New progress in ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Nghe An province.
Over the years, the socio-economic life of ethnic minority and mountainous areas in Nghe An province has seen significant improvements. People have always trusted in the leadership of the Party and the policies and laws of the State, and have actively focused on production and business.
Cong Kien • September 25, 2024
Over the years, the socio-economic life of ethnic minority and mountainous areas in Nghe An province has seen significant improvements. People have always trusted in the leadership of the Party and the policies and laws of the State, and have actively focused on production and business.
Economic development and the improvement of income and living standards for ethnic minority communities have always received the attention and guidance of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Council, and the Provincial People's Committee, along with the strong involvement of all levels and sectors, and the efforts of the ethnic communities themselves. As a result, the economic structure continues to shift in the right direction and has achieved many positive results, with the average per capita income in ethnic minority and mountainous areas reaching 34 million VND per year.
Mobilizing resources and attracting investment for economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous regions has received more attention. The province has allocated budget to support localities in addressing their socio-economic infrastructure development needs. The total budget allocated for investment in development in ethnic minority and mountainous regions during the 2016-2020 period was over 13,400 billion VND, a 1.3-fold increase compared to the 2011-2015 period. The medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period is 8,859 billion VND.
Infrastructure has been continuously strengthened and its effectiveness enhanced. Every year, the province prioritizes budget allocations for infrastructure development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Regarding transportation...,The focus was on prioritizing resources to complete many key projects in the mountainous areas, notably the upgrading and expansion of National Highway 7 and National Highway 48, the investment in the construction of National Highway 46 from the Ho Chi Minh Highway to Thanh Thuy Border Gate, the West Nghe An road (now National Highway 16), and the Chau Thon - Tan Xuan road…
The extension of the national power grid to villages and hamlets has been actively implemented. From 2018 to 2020, electricity was supplied to 38 villages and hamlets in the districts of Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Quy Chau, Que Phong, Quy Hop, Thanh Chuong, and Anh Son, with a total investment of approximately 101 billion VND. In 2020-2021, electricity was supplied to 81 villages and hamlets in 12 communes across 4 districts of Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Quy Chau, and Que Phong, with a total investment of over 222 billion VND.
Information and communication infrastructure continues to receive investment in border areas, especially mobile communication infrastructure. Ethnic minority villages have been invested in with local radio broadcasting systems and radio stations utilizing telecommunications technology. Television coverage has been expanded to 100% of villages throughout the province; the percentage of people listening to radio and watching television is increasing, and mobile phone and internet coverage is now available in all villages.
The face of rural mountainous areas has undergone positive changes. All levels and sectors have prioritized and effectively utilized the potential and advantages of land and climate to promote the restructuring of the agricultural and forestry sectors towards increasing value and sustainable development; transforming the structure of crops, livestock, and seasons towards commodity production linked to processing and product consumption.
Policies supporting production development under the National Target Programs for the period 2021-2025 have been implemented with attention from all levels and sectors, initially yielding positive results and contributing to improving the lives of ethnic minority people. Many effective production and business cooperation models have emerged, such as: developing herds of buffalo, cattle, pigs, goats, black chickens, and cage fish; concentrated cultivation of sugarcane, milk thistle, ginger under forest canopy, green squash, bobo, high-density corn, and safe vegetables; forest protection and rehabilitation, effective economic reclamation of degraded forests, planting melaleuca and acacia, etc., resulting in a high forest cover rate of over 80%...
The management, preservation, and promotion of traditional cultural values of ethnic groups are given attention by all sectors and levels. Several typical intangible cultural heritages have been well preserved and promoted by ethnic communities, such as: the Tho ethnic group with the "du du dien dien" dance, the rice planting ceremony, and the new rice celebration; the Thai ethnic group with the ancient Thai script, a treasure trove of folk tales, traditional dances (nhuon, lam, khap, xuoi), and brocade weaving; the Khmu ethnic group with "tom" and "re re" songs and rattan and bamboo weaving; and the Mong ethnic group with storytelling songs (cu xia, lu tau), musical instruments (khen, trumpet, mouth harp, flute), and blacksmithing.
Education and training are carried out systematically and effectively with diverse and rich forms. The school system receives investment and construction, ensuring sufficient conditions to gradually improve the quality of teaching and learning; the quality of mass education has seen many positive changes; the quality of advanced education is increasingly improving, and the quality of universal education and literacy eradication has seen many positive changes.
The healthcare network has been improved from the provincial to the grassroots level, with balanced development of both public and private healthcare systems. The capacity, quality of medical examination and treatment, and patient satisfaction have all increased compared to 2019, such as: the number of doctors per 10,000 people increased from 8.2 to 12.8. Of these, the number of doctors from ethnic minorities increased from 397 to 556; the number of hospital beds per 10,000 people increased from 34 to 38.2 beds.
Besides the achievements in implementing ethnic policies, the implementation of national target programs has also yielded outstanding results. Firstly, the National Target Program for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021-2030 has allocated a total of over 3,874 billion VND from 2022 to 2024.
Of this, the central government budget allocated over 1,923 billion VND for development investment. This included providing land support for 31 households, housing support for 632 households, production land support for 725 households, and investment in the construction of 497 projects and works. These included 4 resettlement projects, 171 rural transportation projects, 96 education and training projects, 57 centralized water supply projects, 2 district health centers and 15 commune health stations, 21 irrigation projects, 3 electricity projects, 116 cultural facilities, 2 radio stations, and 10 rural markets.
The project includes providing support to 16 outstanding ethnic minority artisans; building one model for preserving the traditional culture of ethnic minorities; organizing four activities to preserve traditional sports; establishing ten community libraries in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; supporting investment in the construction of three tourist destinations in ethnic minority areas; and building cultural and sports facilities in 14 villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.
Under the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction, the central government budget allocated over 916 billion VND for the 2021-2023 period to implement the following: Construction of 48 projects, including 43 projects in the fields of transportation, irrigation, education, and culture; construction of 179 model projects involving 9,864 households; supplementation of micronutrients for 9,790 children under 5 years old and 623 pregnant women; nutritional counseling for 9,105 mothers with children under 5 years old; monitoring and management of acute malnutrition in the community for 1,312 children; vocational training for 4,724 workers; support for the construction of 1,437 new houses for 838 poor households and 599 near-poor households; and repair of 309 houses for 198 poor households and 111 near-poor households...
The New Rural Development movement has spread throughout the western region of Nghe An province. This has helped people proactively focus on production development, increase income, and establish production and consumption linkage groups, such as in Category III communes and border communes in mountainous districts. Many localities have done well in building new rural areas at the village level, linking it with community tourism and preserving the cultural identity of their villages, such as Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong district); Chau Tien commune (Quy Chau district),...
By June 30, 2024, the ethnic minority and mountainous region had 10 communes meeting the advanced new rural standards; 1 commune meeting the model new rural standards; and 1 district-level unit completing the new rural development task (Thai Hoa town completed it in 2015).
During the period 2024-2029, the province will maximize the use of mechanisms and policies from the central and provincial governments dành for ethnic minority and mountainous areas. It will actively innovate, promote economic development, ensure social security; reduce poverty quickly and sustainably, and gradually narrow the gap in living standards and income compared to the national average. At the same time, it will gradually reduce the number of extremely difficult communes and villages; plan and stabilize settlements, and build a synchronous, inter-regional, and connected socio-economic infrastructure system…”.
Comrade Bui Dinh Long - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee
