Exporting food reserves to help people stabilize their lives

LTS:The General Department of State Reserves (GDSR) is an agency under the Ministry of Finance, performing the function of advising and assisting the Minister of Finance in state management of GDSR; directly managing reserve goods assigned by the Government to achieve the goal of being ready to proactively respond to urgent requirements for prevention, control, and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters, fires, and epidemics; ensuring social security, contributing to stabilizing the macro economy. The following is a conversation between Nghe An Newspaper reporter and Director General of GDSR Pham Phan Dung about the activities of the sector.

Providing rice support to people in Quy Hop district. Photo: Huy Nham

PV:Dear Comrade Pham Phan Dung, can you share with readers of Nghe An newspaper about the unit's political tasks in recent times?

Comrade Pham Phan Dung:In recent years, the State Reserve sector has overcome all difficulties and challenges to gradually rise up, affirming its important position and role in the process of sustainable development, ensuring the country's socio-economic stability. In particular, national reserve resources have been promoted and used effectively to support local people, national projects and target programs, thereby making an important contribution to ensuring social security, gaining the trust of the people and highly appreciating the role of the sector.

In implementing support for localities in accordance with the direction of the Prime Minister, implementing the issuance of national reserve rice to support hunger relief for localities is one of the regular tasks of the General Department of State Reserves.

This provision of rice at each time has a different meaning. This is an extremely necessary and meaningful work, full of humanity, demonstrating the spirit of "mutual love" and sharing of the Government with people in especially difficult areas, areas of natural disasters, crop failures, and lean seasons... especially helping the poor and hungry households to "stay warm" during the traditional Lunar New Year of the nation. Although the amount of rice reaching each person is not much, it has encouraged them to overcome difficult times, stabilize their lives, develop production and welcome a new year full of faith, warmth and happiness; contributing to ensuring political security, social order and safety, ensuring stability for socio-economic development, increasing people's trust in the leadership of the Party and the Government.

The General Department of State Reserves has actively directed units to promptly deploy rice exports to support people during the Lunar New Year, ensuring the completion of assigned tasks: in 2011, 71,800 tons of rice were exported for relief; in 2012, 42,200 tons of rice were exported for relief; in 2013, 72,000 tons of rice were exported for relief; in 2014, 32,000 tons were exported for relief; and in early 2015, 13,063 tons of rice were exported for relief. In addition, to support people during the 2015 crop gap, the General Department of State Reserves deployed the export of 9,605 tons of rice according to the Prime Minister's decision.

For ethnic minority students, the implementation of national reserve rice support for students in schools in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions has helped most ethnic minority students to go to school at the right age, reducing the rate of repeating grades and dropping out of school. Starting from mid-2013, the General Department of State Reserves has advised the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Prime Minister a decision to support rice for students in this group. Accordingly, in the 2013-2014 school year, the General Department of State Reserves has issued over 58,300 tons of rice; in the 2014-2015 school year, it issued 66,210 tons of rice to students in 49 provinces and cities before the end of the school year.

PV:Besides ensuring social security, do national reserve resources also support the implementation of afforestation projects, contributing to poverty reduction and improving people's lives?

Comrade Pham Phan Dung:With the general goal of eliminating hunger, reducing poverty, improving people's lives to stabilize the population and stabilize the lives of ethnic minorities, in recent years the Prime Minister has approved a number of project programs, including the use of national rice reserves to support ethnic minorities in contracting, protecting and developing forests. One example is the project to invest in protecting and developing forests in 68 communes in 4 mountainous districts of Ha Giang province in the period of 2008 - 2015. In addition to funding from Program 661, from the investment budget, from self-owned capital, the Prime Minister decided to support 4 mountainous districts of Ha Giang province with 12,896 tons of rice (over a period of 7 years) from the national reserve to implement the Project.

Receiving rice from the national reserve is implemented according to the annual allocation plan of the Provincial People's Committee and is divided into many phases during the year. Up to now, the General Department has implemented over 11,000 tons of rice of the Project; the remaining amount of rice will be provided in 2015, which is 1,547 tons. Or the Rice Support Project for Muong Lat district, Thanh Hoa province, which is supported with 3,000 tons of rice/year for 6 years from the national reserve to support ethnic minorities who voluntarily plant, care for, and protect forests during the period of not being self-sufficient in food in the period of 2013 - 2018. Accordingly, ethnic minorities participating in forest planting will be supported with 10 kg of rice/person/month; after the end of the project implementation period, people will benefit from the entire value of the forest planted by their families. According to the Project's assessment report, through supporting rice for ethnic minorities in Muong Lat district, it will create jobs, eliminate hunger, reduce poverty for ethnic minorities, and ensure the ecological environment for the Ma River basin. Up to now, in Muong Lat district, more than 2,000 households have received 2,500 hectares of forest and 2,000 households have registered to participate in planting 3,000 hectares of forest.

People in Tuong Duong district are making nursery pots for planting trees. Photo: Ho Phuong

PV:So, the use of national reserve resources has brought about very practical results from the State budget capital, Mr. Director General?

Comrade Pham Phan Dung: That is true, and we are proud of this. In general, the use of national reserve resources to support people at different times and periods has different meanings; however, through the policy of supporting national reserve rice for local people, it has partly helped localities ensure social security in all fields. Regarding social security, people in mountainous areas, ethnic minority areas, and areas with difficult conditions are supported with rice and have enough food to eat, which has changed their habits of previously relying on natural forests to exploit wood and firewood for their living needs. Up to now, they have known how to plant, preserve forests, and use products from planted forests to replace natural forest trees; At the same time, it has attracted households in the district to participate in forestry production activities, creating more jobs for workers, gradually improving the lives of people, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the district, contributing to ensuring social security; reducing the situation of illegal migration causing disorder in some border localities.

Regarding education, ethnic minority students are supported with rice and have enough food during their study time, which is one of the important and decisive factors to help them focus on studying, improve the quality of human resources, provide local human resources for the locality, and contribute to building the homeland. Regarding environmental protection, when people participate in planting and preserving forests, they contribute to increasing forest cover, promoting the function of protecting upstream forests, limiting erosion and soil leaching, and maintaining water sources for daily life; through the implementation of forest planting projects, the ecological environment has been gradually improved, changing the living environment to benefit people; the established forest system will create a green environment, contributing to preserving and promoting cultural values ​​for tourism development and economic development. Regarding national security and defense, supporting state reserve resources for people and fishermen in localities has contributed to strengthening the force of fishermen at sea; not only develop the economy but also contribute to maintaining sovereignty and islands.

PV:Thank you, General Director!

Red River

(Perform)