Building new rural areas in mountainous regions: Still far from the goal.

(Baonghean) - Over the past five years of implementing the National Target Program for New Rural Development (NTM) in the 2011-2015 period, the rural areas of our province have seen many positive changes, with solid infrastructure being built and people's lives gradually improving... However, in mountainous areas, building new rural areas remains a difficult challenge because the completion rate of the criteria is still quite low.

Difficulties

According to the Provincial Rural Development Coordination Office, over 200 communes in 11 mountainous districts and towns are implementing the New Rural Development Program. After five years of implementation, the completion rate of rural development criteria in mountainous communes is quite low compared to the provincial average. In particular, three districts – Que Phong, Quy Chau, and Ky Son – have not had any communes meet the New Rural Development standards; and two districts, Tuong Duong and Con Cuong, each have only one commune that has achieved the New Rural Development goal. To date, out of the more than 200 communes in the 11 mountainous districts, only 31 have met all 19 criteria, out of a total of 110 communes that have achieved the New Rural Development goal in the province. Criteria such as poverty rate, income, markets, and environment still show a significant gap compared to communes in the lowland areas.

Over 70% of the roads in Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong district) have been paved with concrete.

The reasons stem from many factors, including the very low starting point of mountainous communes, leading to difficulties in organizing production development and creating livelihoods to increase people's income. The percentage of farming households in high mountainous communes classified as poor and lacking production capital remains high, and access to scientific and technical knowledge is limited. A significant number of ethnic minority households are still passive and lack the capacity to strive to escape poverty. The number of households that have escaped poverty but are at risk of falling back into poverty each year remains very high, and the results of poverty reduction are not sustainable.

Furthermore, the production practices of people in mountainous areas are still backward, with limited arable land, mainly consisting of hilly and forested areas, making production difficult. Production in some areas is still spontaneous and driven by trends, lacking many concentrated commodity production models. The number of businesses in the commune is small, and their scale is not large, so the ability to attract labor and generate budget revenue is limited, making poverty reduction and income improvement for the people difficult to overcome. Therefore, although the mobilization of the entire population to participate in building new rural areas in high mountainous districts is supported by the people, material contributions are very difficult to obtain. Meanwhile, many criteria for building new rural areas require investment to be completed, such as: transportation, community cultural centers, and irrigation. It is known that in the past, in some villages, in addition to government support, the people have actively and effectively contributed labor and resources to concrete the internal village roads. However, that number is still not enough to meet the actual needs.

Besides income and poverty criteria, mountainous communes face difficulties in meeting other criteria, such as transportation, irrigation, markets, and the environment. According to regulations, to be recognized as meeting the transportation criterion, a locality must have 70% of its total road length paved or hardened. However, mountainous communes are mostly hilly areas with scattered populations, and the lives of the people are still difficult, with a high percentage of poor households. Therefore, mobilizing people to contribute to road construction is very limited; leading to significant difficulties in investing in transportation infrastructure in the high mountainous communes of the province.

A specific support mechanism is needed.

Mr. Lang Van Minh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Que Phong district, said: In recent years, in addition to funding from the National Target Program for New Rural Development from the central government and the province, the district has also integrated other funding sources from Program 30a, Program 135/CP, etc., to invest in production development and increase income for local people. However, due to the very low economic and social starting point of the communes, despite prioritizing production support and poverty reduction, the poverty rate in many communes remains above 30%.

Due to the high number of impoverished households, mobilizing resources from the community has been impossible, making it very difficult for communes to meet infrastructure criteria. Furthermore, finding resources to invest in infrastructure and build essential facilities is also a challenging problem for communes building new rural areas in the locality. The district requests that the province and the central government consider and implement specific policies to prioritize support for disadvantaged mountainous communes in investing in infrastructure and developing production to quickly complete the new rural area criteria.

Renovating neglected gardens to grow green beans in Thach Giam commune (Tuong Duong district).

Faced with these practical difficulties, at the beginning of 2016, our province issued a directive to mountainous districts to build new rural areas starting from villages and hamlets. Accordingly, localities developed plans, and villages and hamlets registered to build new rural areas according to a roadmap. In early April, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 1263/QD-UBND on the temporary regulations for the set of criteria for new rural hamlets and villages applicable in mountainous communes of the province. According to this regulation, villages and hamlets only implement 14 new rural area criteria. Districts direct communes to select villages and hamlets for implementation; develop plans, supervise, inspect, and urge; and annually organize appraisal, evaluation, and decision-making to recognize villages and hamlets that meet the new rural area standards. Currently, the provincial New Rural Area Coordination Office is implementing guidance documents for mountainous localities to carry out the construction of new rural villages and hamlets.

Given the difficulties faced by mountainous communes, the current issue is that the State needs a specific mechanism to support production development tailored to the specific conditions of the people in these disadvantaged mountainous communes. This includes strengthening support for high-quality plant and animal breeds, and establishing concentrated production areas based on farms and family farms. Policies are needed to provide capital support and enhance the production and business capacity of cooperatives, production groups, and new production organization models to support people in remote and mountainous areas throughout the agricultural and forestry value chain, from production to consumption. Simultaneously, all levels and sectors should prioritize the implementation, application, and replication of scientific and technological models in disadvantaged mountainous communes.

Xuan Hoang