The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will boost the production of commercial goods, as well as the improvement of product quality and competitiveness in an attempt to double rural economic annual growth rate to about 10 per cent by 2010, said a senior official.
The regional economy recorded rapid and constant growth during 2000-05, at an average annual rate of 5 per cent.
La Van Ly, Head of the MARD's Department for Cooperatives, told a conference on northern rural development that opened in Hanoi on June 7 that the agricultural sector is determined to sustain national food security and increase both the quantity and price of rice exports.
The sector plans to equip the rural population with skills to make good decisions in production and business operations and work out production plans that meet market demands and tap local advantages. Efforts will be made to encourage farm production and build a system for expanding outlets for and processing farm produce.
Incentives are necessary to encourage trained personnel, especially young people with systematic training as well as experienced and competent experts, to work in rural economies.
At the conference, the MARD also decided to give more priorities to develop cooperatives and set out measures to raise their capacity. Strengthening service cooperatives for agricultural, forestry and salt production, building new multi-occupational cooperatives, renovating their management mechanism and settling cooperatives' outstanding debts since 1996 are cited as highest priorities.
Explaining the priority, MARD’s officials said cooperatives play an important role in promoting the application of technical advances in production, helping change the structures of plants, animals and rural occupation.
The northern region comprises of 32 provinces, with 70 percent of the total population making its primary living through agricultural production, MARD reported. Per-capita incomes increased from VND3 million per year in 2000 to VND5 million in 2005.
Thousands of hectares of wasteland in the northeastern, northwestern and northern central regions were reclaimed and put into production in the period under review, considerably contributing to the surge in food and fruit output. In the northern midland and mountainous region alone, the area of cultivated land was expanded by 4,306 hectares during the 2000-04 period.
Up to late 2005, northern provinces and cities boasted 22,600 farms, which generated over 140,000 jobs for the rural workforce.
Economic growth has enabled northern mountainous provinces to expand roads to 98 per cent of their villages and supply safe water to 61.3 per cent of local families.
Irrigation projects have helped water over 75 per cent of cultivated land, while 98 per cent of the districts have built well-equipped medical stations to provide primary healthcare for locals.
The ministry reported 4,449 profit-making cooperatives in the northern region by 2005, accounting for 77 per cent of the country's total cooperatives.
Vietnam & World Economy, Vietnam Economic Times
Vietnamese
