Falling coffee price hits farmers

Many farmers in the northern mountainous Dien Bien Province's Muong Ang District are pleading for help as the price of coffee has fallen sharply following a bumper crop this year.

The coffee price has dropped from VND8,000 (US$0.35) to VND3,500 ($0.15) per kilogram, half the price recorded last year. Farmers will likely suffer losses of up to VND21 million ($933) per hectare, if the price does not rise.

Last year, the farmers suffered huge losses due to a sharp decline in coffee output.

Do Van Vui, a farmer in Muong Ang District's To Cang Village, said he was very worried as his 5ha coffee garden was ready to be harvested, but the price was dropping heavily.

Traders have offered to pay him VND3,500 per kilogram.

Nguyen Thi Tuoi, another farmer in the same village, said she had thought of hiring a truck to transport the coffee berries to the central region, but the highest price the traders had offered her was VND4,000 per kilogram.

"We have land lying idle for coffee cultivation, but if the situation does not improve, we don't think we will plant more coffee," she said.

Both Vui and Tuoi said there should be support policies for farmers as they have had to suffer losses in the past several years due to decline in both coffee output and prices.

Figures from Muong Ang District's People's Committee show that coffee is being cultivated on 3,350ha in the province.

Coffee is seen as a key plant that could improve the living standards of local farmers. The committee has set the goal of increasing the coffee cultivation area to 3,800ha by 2020.

Vice-Chairman of the committee Nguyen Huu Hiep said unstable coffee prices in recent years have failed to assure the income of local farmers.

The committee has encouraged farmers to cultivate other crops to increase their income, but the situation has not improved much.

Hiep said the first priority was to promote the trademark of Muong Ang coffee to help increase its prices.

Currently, there are only three processing coffee businesses in the province, which consume a small amount of the coffee berries. Farmers mainly sell their coffee berries to traders.

Giang Thi Hoa, vice-chairwoman of the provincial People's Committee, said the committee would work with the People's Council to adopt support policies for the affected farmers soon.

Electronic toll collection to start next April in national highways

The Ministry of Transport yesterday said that they would set up electronic toll collection (ETC) at all tollbooths in National Highway 1A and Ho Chi Minh Highway in the Central Highlands from April 30 next year. 

The ministry has chosen Tasco Company to be the investor for this project, who will receive ETC system using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and transfer it to all tollbooths in the two highways.

So far, the ministry has piloted the technology at three tollbooths in the Highway 1A in Quang Binh and Nghe An, and the Ho Chi Minh Highway in Dak Nong province. It has also approved costs and designs of tollbooths for wide implementation of ETC.

Tasco will establish a company specializing in supply of ETC related services.

The Transport Ministry has asked investors of BOT works in the two highways to sign contracts to use ETC stations unless their projects might be halted.

Ha Noi to upgrade Bac Thang Long-Van Tri water plant

The Ha Noi People's Committee and Ha Noi Clean Water Supply Company began upgrading the Bac Thang Long-Van Tri water plant in Dong Anh District yesterday.

The upgrade work aims to supply about 30,000cu.m of water per day to the plant, helping it to operate at its planned capacity of 50,000cu.m per day, Nguyen Bao Vinh, director of the company, said.

The work, expected to be completed in six months with a total investment of more than VND152 billion (US$6.9 million), will exploit the waters of the River Hong (Red).

The project is part of the road map for reducing the use of groundwater.

Ever since the plant, built with a Japanese government loan, became operational in 2007, its water level has fallen sharply due to falling groundwater levels.

Along with this project, the company is preparing to build another water plant that will use the waters of the River Red in Dan Phuong District, at 300,000cu.m a day.

The total capacity of the water supply plants in Ha Noi is 900,000cu.m per day, but they still fail to meet the demand, especially in summer. 

Deaths from hand, foot and mouth disease drop

The number of children who have died from hand-foot-mouth disease has reduced, but the risk of outbreak remains in— this season, according to the Ministry of Health's Preventive Health Department.

The country has recorded more than 34,300 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in the first nine months of this year, and there have been five deaths since.

According to health experts, the disease is a common viral illness among children under the age of three, especially those between 6 months and 12 months, who contract the disease easily and their condition deteriorates rapidly.

The disease peaks during two periods, from March to May, and from September to November, Dr Nguy?n Van Lâm, head of Infectious Hospital of Paediatrics, said.

The common signs include fever, reduced appetite, sore throat and rash on hands, feet and the diaper area, he said.

The disease is transmitted through the digestive, and respiratory systems, and through the toys of children who are infected.

Most of the infected cases are usually not dangerous. However, in some cases, the disease can also cause side-effects such as encephalitis and meningitis and lead to death, doctors said.

There is neither a vaccine nor a drug to treat the disease. The preventive measure is personal hygiene by washing hands with soap and water, and cleaning and disinfecting toys and floors frequently.

Doctors also said that parents should learn the signs of the disease and take their children to the hospital for treatment early. 

Vinh Phuc migrant workers lack childcare facilities

Thousands of migrant workers in northern Vinh Phuc Province's industrial zones have had to send their children to their hometowns or to unlicensed pre-schools due to the lack of childcare facilities.

Nguyen Thi Hang, a female worker at Vina Korea JSC in Khai Quang Industrial Zone in Vinh Yen City, said she was forced to send her three-year-old back to her hometown in northern Phu Tho Province.

Hang said she had no choice as there were no available public kindergartens near her residence, while private schools charged at least VND1 million (US$45), which was quite high compared to her income.

She also had another child, aged about 18 months, and an aging mother-in-law to take care of.

Tran Hong Anh, another female worker, said she had quit her job as a shoemaker at the same industrial zone to stay at home and raise her child. Anh and her husband's combined monthly income, some VND3.5 million ($157) each, was not sufficient to pay for private pre-schools.

"We plan to send our child back to my hometown in Song Lo District to attend a local pre-school when she turns three," she said.

Currently, some 30,000 female labourers are working in industrial zones in the province, and 30 per cent of them are raising kindergarten-aged children.

Figures from the provincial Department of Education and Training show that there are 184 pre-schools in the province. Of these, only 11 pre-schools are located in industrial zones.

In Khai Quang Industrial Zone alone, some 4,000 children of local and migrant workers are old enough to attend pre-school, but only half of them go to school, mainly private ones, where the quality of teaching, nutrition and facilities are not strictly supervised.

Vu Thi Ngoc, head of the department's Pre-school Education Office, said Hoa Hong 2 Pre-school was the first in Khai Quang Industrial Zone to receive the children of migrant workers.

Ten other schools in the industrial zone must receive local children before they admit the children of migrant workers. Thus, many children still have no available schools to attend.

In other industrial zones such as Ba Thien and Ba Thien 2, there were three public schools and one private one, receiving only 1,000 children, aged two to five.

Ngoc said most of the migrant workers were facing a dilemma. They found it difficult to send their children to public schools, where they could afford the school fees, as they did not have a registered residence. The private schools did not require residential registration, but their fees amounted to some VND1-2.5 million ($45-$112). This was too high for parents who earned approximately VND3.5 million ($157), particularly when they had to meet other expenses including house rent.

Ngoc said the province had issued many supportive policies for migrant workers, such as the development of private childcare groups in industrial zones by 2020.

However, she admitted that these measures only resolved the situation temporarily. The demand for pre-schools for the children of workers is enormous, and the building of schools is urgent, she added.

Son Tay set to become satellite town

The Ha Noi's People's Committee has approved a plan to transform Son Tay Town into an urban area and satellite town of the capital city of Ha Noi by 2030.

The urban area will be developed and extended from the town centre to Cam Thuong Commune in Ba Vi District, covering more than 12,180ha. The area is expected to accommodate roughly 239,800 people by 2030.

According to the Ha Noi master plan for 2030, with a vision towards 2050, Son Tay Town is expected to become an economic, cultural, scientific and technological hub, located northwest of the suburban capital city. 

Son Tay will be among five satellite towns that will have functions and independent operations in healthcare, education and training. The town will develop cultural and historical tourism, as well as high-quality agricultural products to meet the demand in the city's centre.

Son Tay Town, Hoa Lac, Xuan Mai and Phu Xuyen as well as Soc Son will be five satellite towns of Ha Noi by 2030, as per the Ha Noi master plan, approved by the government in July 2011. 

Khanh Son dump still pollutes residential quarter

Residents living near Khanh Son dump in Lien Chieu District, the largest one in the city, blocked trucks from carrying garbage to the dump in protest of heavy pollution on Wednesday.

The pollution is an enduring issue and has threatened the health of 500 households near the area in Hoa Khanh Nam District located 20km north of the city centre.

Duong Thanh Thi, chairman of the district's People's Committee, said most of the city's daily garbage is buried at the dump, causing deplorable air and groundwater pollution.

He said residents were protesting the slow pace of Quoc Viet Company, which is assigned to treat the garbage and handle pollution at the dump.

The poor condition of air in the region has been reported over the past two decades.

Nguyen Dieu, director of the city's Natural Resources and Environment, said the city has taken drastic measures to collect rubbish and prevent garbage from being buried at the dump.

"I promise that rubbish will not be buried at the dump, as we invested in the first stage of a treatment plant with updated technology last year. But it's impossible to move the dump to other places immediately because the city has to allocate a new ground," Dieu said.

He said a supervisory team will join local residents in observing the operations of the dump, as well as surveying pollution.

He promised that the dump would be closed if the pollution gets worse.

Earlier, Quoc Viet Company, Waste Treatment and Dump management enterprise and the Viet Nam Environment Joint-Stock Company committed to stop air pollution before October 10, but they failed to complete their commitment.

"We have been living with poor air condition over the past 20 years," said Nguyen Thi Xinh, a resident living near the dump. "Old people and children often suffer from dermatitis, pneumonia, and regular illnesses due to the polluted air and environment. Water leaking from the dump surrounds our living quarters, and flies are numerous in the area."

As designed, the rubbish treatment plant at the dump will process 200 tonnes of rubbish per day in the first stage and will become operational by 2016.

The plant will process 100 per cent of daily rubbish for recycling into oil, unbaked bricks and bio-charcoal.

The city reserves an annual fund of VND7 billion (US$333,000) for waste collection and treatment, but it could not solve the problem of pollution at the dumps.

Khanh Son dump, which expanded from 9.8ha in 1992 to 48.3ha in 2007, will be closed down by 2020.

The old dump, which stored 1.4 million tonnes of rubbish between 1992 and 2006, has polluted underground water and the environment in the suburban Lien Chieu District. 

Program to ensure safety for women

Being free to reside, travel and enjoy city life in safety is a legitimate right of all people, especially women who have reason to worry about the possibility of sexual harassment or abuse, Nguyen Phuong Thuy of ActionAid Viet Nam said yesterday.

Thuy, a policy and campaign manager at the NGO, introduced the "Safe cities for women" programme yesterday in Ha Noi.

"Safe cities for women" works with citizens and management agencies to make cities places where women and girls can feel comfortable and confident instead of worried, vulnerable and highly vigilant.

In many of Viet Nam's bigger cities - on city streets, public transport and even work offices – it can be unsafe for women. Around the world, women are subjected to physical assaults and mental suffering in public spaces on a regular basis.

Speaking from personal experience, Vu Thanh Van, a third-year student who takes public transport to the Academy of Journalism and Communication every day, says, "On the crowded buses, sexual harassment and pick pocketing is very common. Many passengers witness these cases but ignore them."

A survey of over 2,000 locals in HCM City and Ha Noi reveals that 87 per cent of women and girls have experienced sexual harassment in a public space.

Discussing what factors make cities safer, journalists and gender experts agreed that factors such as trees, public lighting, transport culture and housing quality are all important. But, they agreed, the most important factor is public awareness.

"In Viet Nam, awareness about what sexual harassment is and identifying sexual harassment is very poor," said Huu Viet, a journalist from the Nhan Dan(People) newspaper said.

Nguyen Van Anh, director of the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender-Family-Women and Adolescents (CSAGA), said that it is necessary to educate people who are vulnerable to harassment about how to defend themselves, as well as make people who violate others understand that it is a crime with consequences.

In 2013, Ha Noi and HCM City installed parts of the program. Cameras were placed in public busses in HCM City in an effort to mitigate acts of sexual harassment and other crimes.

This year's program will take place in Ha Noi, HCM City, Hai Phong, Uong Bi, and TraVinh.

Several awareness-raising activities such as street music festivals, a cycling race and banners on buses will take place in the cities. 

Youth training project offers a helping hand

About 400 disadvantaged youth will receive free vocational training under a new project by the Ha Noi Vocational College and College of Urban Works Construction.

The project, entitled "Youth Vocational Training in Ha Noi", was launched in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

The three-year project, which started in September and continues until June 2018, will provide six-month courses in the automotive and welding sector, and 18-month courses on pipeline processing technology.

All selected students will receive financial benefits, but 400 youth who live under the most difficult conditions will be granted full scholarships. Others will receive a tuition fee reduction of 70 per cent.

In addition, all participants will enjoy free accommodations.

Upon completing the training programme, all participants will be able to access job opportunities. Seventy per cent of participants are expected to have a stable job within the first six months and be able to contribute their earnings to support their families within the first four months.

The project will upgrade three vocational training workshops: an automotive technology workshop, a pipe processing workshop and a workshop on safety in works and industry, which is a brand new field of study.

In addition, new modern facilities for the training courses will be added to meet the demand of the labour market.

The project will also invite domestic and foreign experts to help upgrade the teaching quality of lecturers.

In addition to gaining expertise, students will learn other skills in order to quickly adapt to the working environment after graduation.

The project, which aims to help thousands of young people escape poverty and unemployment, is sponsored by KOICA, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Plan International with a total budget of US$1.7 million.

The project marks the new development of Ha Noi vocational schools in enhancing international co-operation and increasing the quality of education in order to meet the demand of Viet Nam and ASEAN labor markets.

Hanoi promotes prenatal screening to improve population quality

Hanoi aims to have 85 percent of pregnant women taken prenatal screening by 2020 as part of efforts to raise the quality of its population.

The same project for the 2016-2020 period also targets to screen 80 percent of newborn babies in a bid to early detect and treat innate deformities and cardiovascular illness.

Over the past three years, the city has implemented a similar project in a number of districts, which has helped raise the awareness of the importance of prenatal and newborn screening among local authorities, healthcare workers and residents alike.

The targeted areas under the project are the districts of Quoc Oai, Chuong My, Tay Ho, Long Bien, Ba Vi, Ung Hoa, Phuc Tho, Thuong Tin.

The rate of taking prenatal screening among expectant mothers has almost doubled from 40.36 percent in 2012 to an estimated 70 percent by 2015, while that among newborn babies nearly quadrupling from 20.21 percent to 80 percent in the period.

Nguyen Van Tan, Deputy Director of the Hanoi General Department of Population and Family Planning hailed the project’s outcomes, saying that they are expected to contribute to improve the quality of capital population in the coming time.

The official also suggested that Hanoi develop a more effective procedure, expand targeted areas and strengthen the application of technology in the process.

The services should be also covered by health insurance, he added.

Illicit trade of crossbows, blowguns happening in Ho Chi Minh City

Simple but lethal tools such as crossbows and blowguns, homemade and imported, are being traded in Ho Chi Minh City despite a ban, a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper investigation has found.

Thinh, a young man of Binh Tan District, told Tuoi Tre correspondents that he could make blowguns not only for his own use in hunting but also to sell to others.

He added that his blowguns, with dart points made with sharpened bamboo or metal, can be used as lethal weapons with a range of up to 35 meters.

He said that he would sell blowguns for VND330,000 (US$13.5) to those who buy large quantities to re-sell, and for VND400,000 ($18) to those who purchase for their own hunting or other purposes.

Users can apply toxic chemicals to dart points to attack their targets of choice, Thinh said.

He added that he had used his tools to kill various animals, including rats, snakes, fish, frogs, birds, and even weasels.

Another trader of lethal tools Tuoi Tre contacted was Hoa, who makes crossbows for his own use and to sell to others.

Hoa, who lives in District 12, said he sells crossbows 1.6 meters long that can reach targets from a distance of 100 meters, for VND300,000 ($13.45).

Hoa added he also sells crossbows illegally imported from China for VND12 million ($538) apiece.

“This is a kind of dangerous toy that is very difficult to be imported into Vietnam,” Hoa said, adding that he required an advance payment of 50 percent from those who wanted to buy it.

The Tuoi Tre correspondents also met Duy, another trader offering crossbows for sale that had been imported as sporting tools.

Duy said he offers sets of crossbows, arrows and accessories imported from South Korea and Mongolia for up to VND17 million ($762) each.

He added that he provides such bows for buyers in different provinces and cities in Vietnam and said delivery is made after he receives payment from the purchasers.

Importing such lethal tools is not easy at all, Duy said, adding that he was able to import them thanks to his “circle of acquaintances.”

These crossbows and blowguns are among a number of lethal tools that are banned from trade, Major Ho Anh Quoc, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department, told Tuoi Tre, citing the Ordinance on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosive Materials and Support Tools.

Violators of the ordinance are subject to administrative or criminal treatment, depending on violation levels, Major Quoc said.

The department recently conducted multiple campaigns calling on the public to submit dangerous weapons and tools to authorities who will organize the destruction of such items.

75 erosion sites found in Quang Nam Province

Quang Nam Province has found 75 riverside erosion sites, threatening thousands of households living alongside the rivers, the provincial Department of Irrigation Work said.

About 82 kilometres total have eroded. Duy Xuyen, Nong Son and Dai Loc districts, and Hoi An have seen the most severe landslides. Houses and cultivated land were at risk of being washed away, the department said.

Nguyen Chin, a resident in Duy Xuyen District's Duy Thanh Commune, said he and his family were filled with fear whenever it rained.

His two-storey house used to sit 30m from the Ly Ly River's banks, but now it's 10m away.

Chin said he built a concrete embankment along the eroded edge near his house to prevent more landslides. But this was only a temporary measure.

Along the two edges of the river, many houses were abandoned when their owners were forced to evacuate due to safety concerns.

Nearly two kilometres of the Ly Ly River have eroded, threatening many construction works such as a hydropower plant and a power supply station.

Le Trung Xuan, chairman of the communal People's Committee, said 250 households were living in erosion-prone areas.

The committee mobilised local people to set bamboo stakes along the edges of the river to prevent landslides, but the situation hasn't improved much.

Xuan said the cost of building an embankment was several billions of dong, which surpassed the committee's financial capacity.

Truong Xuan Ty, head of the provincial Department of Irrigation Work, said that the province has given warnings on erosion-prone areas and evacuated residents to safe places.

The committee would ask the State to fund more embankments for spots that urgently needed them, he said.

HCM City: more 27,000 workers needed in November

Ho Chi Minh City will need about 17,000 full-time and 10,000 seasonal and part-time workers in November, the municipal Centre for Human Resources Forecast and Labour Information said on October 22. 

Of the total 27,000 positions, 30 percent require manual laborers and 70 percent skilled workers with training at vocational schools, colleges and universities. 

According to the centre’s Deputy Director Tran Anh Tuan, services-hospitability, information technology (IT), textiles-garments, footwear, tourism, mechanism, electronics, electricity, real estate and construction need workers most. 

Speaking of employment demand in the next two months, he said local enterprises will require more manual labourers for their seasonal business activities in service of the Lunar New Year festival.

Over the past five years, the city has posted an annual GDP growth of 9.6 percent, 1.66 times higher than the country’s average, and a per capita GDP increase of 12 percent each year, reaching 5,538 USD in 2015.

It completed its poverty reduction target for the 2009-2015 period two years ahead of schedule. The rate of poor households with an annual per capita income of under 16 million VND is now only 1.03 percent, while those with an earning of below 21 million VND per head per year, 2.64 percent.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri