Nearly 3,500 communes recognised as new-style rural areas

ABO/NDO - As many as 3,478 communes, equivalent to nearly 39% of the total number of communes nationwide, have been recognised as new-style rural areas, following the 10-year implementation of the Resolution of the seventh session of the 10th National Congress of the Party on agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

At the conference (credit: VNA)

The information was announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) at a conference held in Hanoi, on September 7, to review the 10-year implementation of the Resolution.

The report by the MARD affirmed the correctness of the Party Resolution that has created positive impacts on the agricultural sector, which occupies nearly 70% of the total population and roughly 40% of the total labour force.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Le Quoc Doanh, noted that, over the past decade, the agricultural sector has maintained its growth and increased its scale, productivity and quality, contributing to reducing the poverty rate and improving the living standards for rural residents.

The sector posted an annual GDP growth of 2.66% in the 2008-2018 period.

After the 10-year implementation of the Resolution, investment in the agricultural sector has expanded by 2.93 times and the number of agriculture firms rose from 2,400 in 2007 to 7,000 in 2017. In particular, the rate of poor households has reduced rapidly and fell to just 8% in 2017.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Xuan Cuong, said that it is necessary to recognise the important role of agriculture, farmers and rural areas in the process of national industrialisation, associated with prioritising resources for the development of the sector through specialised policies and mechanisms.

(Source: NDO)