Building new rural areas in the Red River Delta and North Central Coast: Experiences from practice

Comrade Le Dinh Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee:

With the viewpoint of building new rural areas towards model new rural communes according to the motto "solid villages, solid communes", ensuring comprehensive new rural construction, sustainable development, linking production development with environmental protection, preserving and promoting the cultural identity of rural areas, the Steering Committee for New Rural Areas, Ha Tinh People's Committee has a policy of building model new rural residential areas and model gardens.

From the construction of pilot models, up to now, Ha Tinh has 1,719/1,755 (accounting for 98%) villages implementing construction, over 11,300 gardens implemented, of which 283 residential areas, 3,382 standard model gardens; many residential areas with developed economy, good environment, beautiful landscape, culture preserved and promoted, have become "Prosperous - Peaceful" countryside.

Building new rural areas, many rural areas are changing every day. Photo: baohatinh.vn

To successfully build a model residential area and model garden, it is necessary to issue a set of criteria: model commune; model village; model garden... and add it as the 10th criterion in the set of criteria for new rural communes implemented in the province; Build a convincing model, exchange experiences on methods, practices, and ways of organizing implementation between localities; Mobilize the participation of the entire political system, promote the role of each household and each person; Have support policies, increase the organization of study tours; exchange and practical discussions between localities are the activities that bring about the fastest results. Preliminary and final summaries must draw lessons learned.

Comrade Dang Huy Hau - Vice Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee:

Realizing that Japan's OVOP (One Village One Product) program and Thailand's OTOP (One Community One Product) program can be applied locally, since 2013, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province has approved and implemented the "One Commune, One Product" program (abbreviated as OCOP).

After 6 years of implementing the program, up to now, the whole province has 322 products, of which 138 products have achieved 3-5 stars (75 products have achieved 3 stars, 56 products have achieved 4 stars, 7 products have achieved 5 stars); over 90% of OCOP products have been affixed with smart electronic stamps to trace their origin. Total OCOP sales of economic organizations and OCOP production households in 2018 reached 311 billion VND, creating over 2,600 jobs, the average income of people in rural areas has improved significantly, from 10 million VND/person (in 2010) to 38.5 million VND/person (in 2018).

The implementation of the OCOP Program cannot be rushed, it must be persistent and carried out continuously in a cycle to promote the continuous creativity of the people. Accordingly, the OCOP Program must be considered an important economic development program of the community.

Beautiful images create a prosperous new rural face of Quang Ninh today. Photo: Baoquangninh

Comrade Bui Dinh Long - Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee:

Nam Dan is one of four districts nationwide selected by the Central Steering Committee to pilot the construction of a model new rural district with the content "Building Nam Dan district to become a model new rural district in the direction of cultural development associated with tourism in the period 2018 - 2025".

Accordingly, the set target is: By 2020, 7 communes will meet advanced new rural standards, 3 communes will meet model new rural standards in the direction of cultural development associated with tourism, and by 2025, 100% of communes will meet advanced new rural standards, 7 communes will meet model new rural standards in the direction of cultural development associated with tourism.

To gradually implement the contents of the Project, Nam Dan District Party Committee has established a Steering Committee, issued operating regulations, assigned specific tasks to each member and widely disseminated the project's contents to all classes of people.

Golden season on Nam Dan rice fields. Photo: Trung Ha

At the same time, Nam Dan called on businesses and economic groups to invest in projects in the area with a total investment of nearly 2,000 billion VND, focusing on a number of key projects and construction items such as: Parking lot and traffic roads at Kim Lien relic site; Complex of restaurant and hotel projects in the Town; Parking lot and tourism services in Dai Tue pagoda area, Nam Anh commune; export leather shoe factory project in Van Dien industrial park; Construction of a centralized waste treatment plant, clean water plant in Nam Nam region, construction of a tourism information portal and smart tourism application on mobile devices...

Direct communes to continue reviewing the contents and criteria to gradually consolidate and improve the quality of new rural criteria in a sustainable manner.

View of Nam Dan town (Nam Dan district). Photo: Thanh Cuong

Up to now, in Nam Dan district, there are over 145 km of flower roads, 100% of hamlets have installed public lighting systems, of which over 70% have automatic on/off systems; initially forming a number of standard gardens and model gardens of new rural areas.

At the same time, select some advantageous products to build and develop into OCOP products, such as: Soy sauce, tapioca starch, turmeric powder, tamarind meat, tamarind sausage, Lang Sen sticky rice wine, products from lemon, lotus, persimmon...

Comrade Nguyen The Huy - Party cell secretary, head of Xuan Lap village, Ngoc Phung commune, Thuong Xuan district (Thanh Hoa):

As a village in a poor district according to Resolution 30a of the Government with 3 ethnic groups: Kinh, Thai, Muong living, the people's economy still has many difficulties, the educational level is lower than the general level; weak infrastructure... The starting point for Xuan Lap village to build a new rural area is almost "0".

The village executive committee has adopted the motto "slow and steady wins the race" in propagating and mobilizing people to understand their role and importance as well as defining their own role in implementing the criteria for new rural villages/hamlets. At the same time, cadres and party members set an example for people to follow. For specific tasks, it is always determined that "people know, people discuss, people do, people supervise and people enjoy". Accordingly, there are tasks that each household and each person can do, so the commune and hamlet authorities will guide people on how to do them: renovate mixed gardens; maintain hygiene; improve the environment... For tasks that require the whole hamlet and commune to do together, people contribute funds and working days; for tasks that must be contracted out, people contribute funds and appoint supervisors.

To “solve the difficult problem” of this infrastructure, first of all, we must do a good job of mass mobilization, so that everyone clearly understands their role and responsibility and agrees to contribute. Second, we must make people believe that every penny contributed by the people must be used for the right purpose, in the right place and effectively. Third, the mobilization level must be appropriate, not beyond the people’s capacity, calling for mutual support and love in contributions; creating conditions for disadvantaged households to contribute in terms of working days and in kind.

Thanks to that, in 10 years of building the new rural area, the village has mobilized over 20 billion VND to build infrastructure. The appearance of Xuan Lap village has been constantly improved; the economic and spiritual life of the people has been constantly enhanced. The village has become a typical example of Thanh Hoa province in building the new rural area.