Minister asks for VND2 trillion to fix Central Highland immigration problem

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed allocating VND2 trillion (USD95 million) over the next three years to aid the settlement of immigrants to the Central Highlands.

At the conference on immigration and population dispersion on August 13, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc drew attention to the problem. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, many households have moved to the highlands, increasing the population and causing some troubles for the municipal authorities.

"Even though many families have settled down, the situation remains complicated. It's especially difficult to dissuade those who wish to immigrate to the northeast and the highlands. But the large numbers of people moving have caused some troubles for the authorities in terms of management and ensuring social order," said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The average number of households relocating to the highlands has been about 2,000 per year over the last decade, but it has also been volatile over time. In 2008, the number reached 4,247, but dipped to 695 in 2013. Most of these people are poor and from ethnic minorities traditionally located in northeastern provinces. The flood has increased the amount of people in the Central Highlands living in poverty.

Due to poverty their poverty, many do not possess land for homes or agriculture lands and lack proper healthcare and education. As a result, the region has also had to deal with increasing deforestation and land disputes. The latest report shows the problem has somewhat improved, as thousands of families have moved to settlement areas where they receive basic services provided for by municipal authorities.

The minister proposed to direct more investment toward these disadvantaged areas in order to further improve the displacement problem. He said, "This will require VND2 trillion over the next three years. We suggested to spending VND500 billion to deal with the most immediate problems in the year first."

The deputy prime minister said, in order to completely deal with this problem, municipal authorities will have to address the root causes and adjust policies so as to improve the living standards for citizens of the region.

Foreign-funded project benefits Dong Nai’s disabled

Nearly 250 disabled people in southern Dong Nai province benefit from a project that is being carried out by the provincial Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs under the support of the Handicap International in Vietnam.

It was reported at a meeting in the locality on August 13 that the project has focused on giving vocational training to disabled people with working capacity in 18 communes. Following training, the beneficiaries were provided with capital for starting their own production or business, or introduced to job opportunities.

After three years of implementation, as many as 198 local people with disabilities were provided with non-refundable capital worth nearly 1.5 billion VND (70,500 USD), which aids them in beginning production and business by themselves. Meanwhile, 49 others have found jobs in 18 enterprises operating in Dong Nai so far.

A representative from San Lim Furniture Vietnam Co., Ltd said the firm has started recruiting disabled employees since 2009, and currently 36 workers with disabilities are working in the enterprise with a monthly average salary of 5-6 million VND.

To give best support to disabled people, the project’s workers have conducted surveys on the need for jobs and social welfare for the disabled in the locality, provided training and consultation for vocational training centres’ staffs on how to work with the disabled.

They have also called on enterprises to employ disabled workers and make it easier for the disabled to access start-up investment.

Province looks back at development of wetland area

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on August 14 held a symposium reviewing the exploitation and socio-economic development of the low-lying area of Dong Thap Muoi since 1976.

Dong Thap Muoi (or Plain of Reeds) covers more than 690,000ha of land, accounting for some 17.7 percent of the Mekong Delta’s natural area. The area, with nearly 40 percent originally alkaline soil, spreads over Tien Giang, Long An and Dong Thap provinces.

Rice output in the area now contributes largely to the total volume of this farm produce in the Mekong Delta region – Vietnam’s rice hub.

Reports by scientists from southern research institutes and universities highlighted experience in reclaiming marshland and building dykes in Dong Thap Muoi for raising crops and livestock and developing trade and services.

Thanks to those efforts over the past four decades, the part of Dong Thap Muoi in Tien Giang became Tan Phuoc district, a dynamic administrative unit in the northwest of the province.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Khang said after 20 years of establishment, Tan Phuoc has made development breakthroughs.

Notably, it has created a 15,000ha area specialising in growing pineapples with an annual output of some 250,000 tonnes. The district also owns nearly 5,000ha of high-yield rice, 1,200ha of food crops and 3,500ha of forest trees, he added.

Local per capita income increased almost 10 times in the period from 1995 to 2013 while the rate of household poverty dropped from 45 percent to 11.4 percent, the official noted.

Tran Huu Thang, a lecturer at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, said effective irrigation measures, including building a canal system, play the greatest role in land reclamation, thus creating a stepping stone to local development.-

Vietnam to focus on improving population quality

Improving population quality and maintaining a reasonable birth rate to meet human resources demand for national development were the main topics of discussion at a seminar in northern Hung Yen province on August 13.

The topics are also the major orientations of the target programme on population and family planning in 2016-2020.

More than 200 representatives from the Health Ministry and population departments of 63 provinces and cities re-affirmed the importance of the population and family planning programme for the socio-economic development.

Birth reduction and high population quality will save spending on social services, reduce poverty and improve people’s living standards, especially mother’s health, and reduce the child mortality rate, thus easing burdens on the society, they said.

According to the General Department of Population and Family Planning, Vietnam is facing big population challenges in the transitional period from a high to low fertility rate and from a young to old population structure.

Two out of the country’s six main regions, namely the Central Highlands and the northern central-central coastal regions, have not yet reached a replacement birth level.

The country sees a high gender imbalance at birth, which tends to be increasing, as well as poor population quality, including lower stature and physical strength indicators than those of regional countries.

Participants also pointed out limitations in carrying out the programme, including poor investment, weak human resources, and asynchronous and slow implementation of activities.

In 2015, Vietnam’s population is forecast to reach 91.5 million, with a 0.2 percent reduction in population growth rate to 1.03 percent compared to 2013.

The rate of people using modern contraceptive methods is expected to rise from 27 percent last year to 71 percent in 2015, and the sex ratio at birth to be curbed at 114.5 boys to 100 girls.

The prenatal screening rate is hoped to be raised to 15 percent while the rate of newborn screening, up 30 percent.

In the 2016-2020, the country aims to reach a sex ratio at birth of 115 boys to 100 girls, increase the rate of elderly people with access to health care services to 50 percent, and maintaining a reasonable birth rate.

Better policy needed to draw investment in hi-tech agriculture

Better policies are essential for persuading businesses to invest in hi-tech agriculture, heard a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on August 13.

Experts said localities should develop public-private development cooperation projects in the field and encourage enterprises to participate in them.

Attention should also be paid to enhancing farmers’ capacity to apply hi-tech agriculture as they are the target of technology transfer.

In addition to the current 88.17 ha hi-tech agriculture zone which specialises in cultivation, the city plans to zone off a 200 ha area in Cu Chi district for developing hi-tech cultivation, ornamental fish breeding and aquatic plants, while 90ha in Can Gio district will be designated for aquaculture.

Meanwhile, a hi-tech centre focusing on animal breeding will be set up in Binh Chanh district, according to the municipal management board of hi-tech agriculture park.

Vietnam is now home to 29 hi-tech agriculture parks in 12 out of the 63 provinces and cities. The parks have formed development models such as safe vegetable production and flower and ornamental plant growing in Ho Chi Minh City , Bac Ninh and Lam Dong and mushroom production in Vinh Phuc province.

The country has a strong history of agriculture, with 70 percent of the population live on farming.

Forest fires cause great damage to Binh Dinh province

As many as 13 forest fires occurred in the central province of Binh Dinh in the first half of August, destroying over 191 hectares of forests.

The figure brought the total number of blazes in the province to 52 since the beginning of this year, wiping out over 378 ha of forests, according to the provincial forest management department.

Phu Cat district was the hardest hit with more than 118 ha, followed by Quy Nhon city, 76.31 ha; and Van Canh mountainous district, nearly 68 ha.

More than 1,600 ha of forests have dried out as a result of the ongoing drought. Most of the forest areas are at high risk of fires.

Being aware of the situation, local authorities have asked the department in coordination with relevant agencies to intensify measures against massive fires.

In 2013, nearly 250 fires hit the country, destroying 965 ha of forests. No casualties were reported.

The same year, more than 227,000 ha of land nationwide were covered with trees, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The country aims to raise the forest coverage rate to 41.5 percent this year.

With an annual production of about 25 million tonnes, accounting for 55 percent of the country’s total rice production, the Mekong Delta has become the largest rice granary in the country, said the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Online Newspaper.

However, post-harvest losses are still high and this has resulted in poor improvement of farmers' living standards. It is necessary to apply modern technology to improve the quality of rice and minimize post-harvest losses, said the newspaper.

According to Dr. Pham Van Tan, from the Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Engineering & Post-Harvest Technology (SIAEP), the rice supply chain consists of a logical technological process in the following stages: breeding, cultivation (planting and care), harvesting, drying, storage, husking, processing and consumption.

In the chain of the process, the quality of product does not only depend on the quality of the technology applied during that stage, but also depends on the quality of the technology at every previous stage.

Development of the rice supply chain in the Mekong Delta, has shown that the purpose of the preservation is to ensure the quality of rice. Most farmers in the Mekong Delta can only afford to preserve rice seed for next crop and harvested rice for family consumption.

If they cannot sell rice immediately after preliminary drying, due to too low market prices farmers often temporarily store rice in PP bags or jute bags of 30 - 50kg. They pile them anywhere available and cover them with canvas to protect them from the rain and frogs between one and two weeks at best and several months at worst. This method of storage, for any period, reduces the quality of rice and cause economic losses.

In recent years, drying rice by machine after harvest has developed significantly in the Delta, accounting for about 47 percent of the crop compared to the demand.

To reduce the post harvest losses, the drying and preservation of rice are two key steps that need to be standardized throughout the Mekong delta in an effort to improve farmers’ living standards in the region.

Lao delegation study new-style rural areas in Gia Lai

A delegation of the Lao National Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Eradication on August 13 had a fact-finding tour to the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai to learn local experience in building new-style rural areas.

Lao officials visited Bien Ho, one of the first five communes of Gia Lai succeeding in meeting all 19 criteria of building new-style rural areas.

They paid special attention to measures to mobilise capital for building infrastructure and profitable production and livestock farming models.

Vice Chairman of the Lao committee Thongvanh Vilayheuang said Bien Ho’s experiences are very useful for his country in its effort to develop its rural areas comprehensively.

Vietnam’s national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, sets 19 criteria regarding socio-economic development, politics and security – defence, aiming to give a facelift to rural regions of Vietnam.

Building infrastructure, improving production capacity, constructing public works, protecting the landscape and environment, and promoting local traditions and cultural identities are among them.

Gia Lai targets an additional 25 out of the 185 communes satisfying all criteria by the end of 2014.-

Exhibition on Quang Tri UXO victims opens in Hanoi

The photos were taken by a group of students from Hanoi-Amsterdam High School during their recent fact-finding trip to Quang Tri, one of the localities that have the largest UXO polluted area.

The photos reflect pains and losses of those who suffer from UXOs left by the war as well as their efforts to overcome the fate to contribute to the society through lens of the youths.

The exhibition that opened on August 11 is a message on peace and a dream of life without war and is to call for support for the victims.

The exhibition will run till August 17.

According to the National Steering Committee for Recovery over the Postwar Bomb and Landmine Impact, about 800,000 tonnes of UXOs, scattered across 6.6 million hectares or 20.12 percent of the country’s land, are putting people in danger every day.

Latest statistics show that ordnance left behind by the war has killed more than 42,000 people and injured 60,000 others nationwide.

Global fund helps improve Ninh Thuan’s medical system

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has provided over 176,000 USD for the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan to improve its health care services.

According to Director of the provincial Health Department Le Minh Dinh, the GFATM project aims to improve capacity for local medical staff through training courses and provide equipment for district and communal clinics.

It also supports the improvement of the health system management, especially in planning, monitoring and evaluating activities.

The project, now in its second phase, will purchase medical equipment for 15 communal clinics in the four districts of Thuan Nam , Ninh Phuoc, Ninh Hai and Ninh Son.

The medical centres of Thuan Nam and Ninh Hai districts will also be equipped with machines serving HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria prevention as well as mother and child care.

In the first phase, the project provided equipment for the health centres of Bac Ai and Thuan Bac districts and 15 communal clinics in the two districts as well as training courses for their staff.

Ninh Thuan is one of the 15 provinces benefiting from the project, which has been implemented between 2012 and 2016 with a total investment of 87 million USD.

Workshop seeks better conditions for female workers

A workshop was held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 12, seeking to further improve working conditions for female workers in the labour-intensive garment and textile and footwear sectors.

Female workers make up 80 percent of the workforce of the garment, textile and footwear sectors, mainly young migrants, heard the workshop, which was jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Ho Chi Minh City Branch (VCCI-HCM City) and Marie Stopes International Vietnam (MSIVN).

The event was part of a European Union-funded project, which targets increasing female migrant workers’ access to quality reproductive healthcare services, particularly birth control counseling.

The beneficiaries of the project, implemented by MSIVN in 2013-2015, are over 100,000 female labourers from eight factories in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai.

Enterprises should be fully aware of constantly bettering working conditions for female workforce, as it, in turn, will increase productivity and sustain stable operations for them, said Vo Tan Thanh, Director of VCCI – HCM City.

Agreeing with Thanh’s opinion, Nguyen Thi Bich Hang, Head of MSIVN also said that good reproductive healthcare services will help forge a win-win situation for both workers and enterprises.

As women account for a large proportion of the country’s workforce, many important policies and laws containing the issues related to them have been adopted, including the Labour Code.

New national road to be built in Thai Nguyen

A project on building a new section of National Highway No.3 in the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) form will be commenced in September, investors reported to Transport Minister Dinh La Thang at a working session on August 12.

The 40.2 km section will connect the northern province of Thai Nguyen and Cho Moi district in the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan.

Investment capital for the first phase of the project is more than 2.3 trillion VND (approximately 112 million USD), of which over 1.4 trillion VND (66.6 million USD) will be spent on construction work and 272 billion VND (12.9 million USD) will be paid for site clearance.

Minister Thang said calling for BOT investment is a right choice for transport development to ease the pressure on the State budget.

Deputy PM pushes for marine resource, environment projects

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai urged a push for a raft of marine resource and environment projects at a meeting in Hanoi on August 14.

He directed concrete tasks to ensure that the projects meet schedule, saying that mechanisms should be fixed towards simplifying administrative procedures.

The State Steering Committee for Marine Resource and Environment Baseline Survey informed him that seven projects for the 2006-2012 period have yet to end while the progress of the 2013-2020 projects remains at a slow pace, in part due to poor coordination between localities.

At the meeting, the committee reviewed its activities in the first half and mulled its tasks for the rest of this year.

Deputy PM Hai gave his opinions on the State budget allocation for licensed and delayed projects.

Preparations for 10th ASEAN Skills Competition inspected

Colleges, selected as venues for the 10th ASEAN Skills Competition, are making good preparations for the event, which will be organised in Hanoi from October 19-29.

This was an assessment by a delegation from the steering committee for organisation of the competition while they were inspecting preparation work at the Hanoi Tourism College, College of Urban Works Construction, Hanoi Vocational College of High Technology, and North East College of Technology and Agro-forestry on August 13-14.

Professors and lecturers at the colleges were urged to help competitors improve their knowledge, skills and foreign language standards.

The biennial event aims to promote and improve vocational skills in the region so that they can meet international standards. This year’s event is expected to attract 293 young workers, under the age of 22, from 10 ASEAN member countries competing in 23 occupational skills and two performance skills.

With the participation of 51 competitors in all skills, Vietnam is targeting the first position.

Vietnam first hosted the competition in 2004, topping the medal tally with 13 of the 18 gold medals. At the 9th event in Indonesia in 2012, the country came second place, with 44 workers competing in 22 skills.

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