Developing economy to speed up new-style rural area building

Developing the economy and increasing locals’ income are always considered a core target and a level for other criteria in the new-style rural area building programme at Thuong Bi commune in Kim Boi district.

The red pomelo orchard of Bui Van Nghich’s family in Ngheo village enters harvest time.

Over the past years, Thuong Bi commune has carried out the shifting of the structure of crops in a serious and thorough manner to create more jobs for locals, help them increase income and stabilise their lives, and gradually reduce the number of poor households. Land areas where rice cultivation produces low yield have been used to grow new kinds of plants which produce high economic values such as green-skin pomelo, Tan Lac red pomelo or longan. Many households have initially earned high income from fruit trees, for example the red pomelo orchards of Bui Van Be and Bui Van Nghich in Ngheo village.

As of September 2018, the commune had more than 40 hectares of fruit trees with high productivity, up 10 hectares from the same period in 2017, of which 29 hectares were in harvest time.

To create a consensus in new-style rural area building, the locality’s Party committee and authorities have directed local mass organisations to intensify disseminations to make locals understand more about the work’s purpose and significance as well as their benefits and responsibility.

In addition, the commune has appointed officials to each village to select work items that suit the local conditions and residents’ wish to be implemented first, while promoting the role of setting example of officials and Party members in contributing money, materials, land and working days to the new-style rural area building.

The commune has effectively carried out assistance policies and mechanisms of the Party, Government and the province to build new-style rural infrastructure projects. Since 2016, Thuong Bi has built more than 2km of concrete roads, and over 1.4km of intra-field canals. The local community contributed to the work nearly 300 million VND worth of cash, land, construction materials and working days.

With joint efforts of the Party organisation, authorities and people, as of late September, the commune’s per capita income averaged 14 million VND a year and the poverty rate reduced to 22 percent, while 76 percent of local households had standard homes, 100 percent of households were connected to the national grid, and over 70 percent received the cultural family title. The commune’s political security, and social order and safety were maintained as well./.