Lawmakers say rural areas should benefit from next stimulus package

National Assembly deputies yesterday, October 27, urged the Government to put more focus from the economic stimulus package on support for rural areas. They were examining ways of narrowing the gap between urban and rural socio-economic development.

They agreed that fewer farmers or small and medium-scale enterprises were able to access capital and gain benefits from the stimulus package because of complicated application procedures.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Van from Ha Tinh Province said these procedures included using land certificates when borrowing money or having to produce stamped and signed invoices when buying materials or machines.

"About 50 per cent of farmers have no land certificates and it takes them too much money to get an authenticated invoice", said Van.

Deputy Nguyen Lan Dung of Dak Lak Province said that up to 70 per cent of Vietnamese people were involved in agricultural production, which contributed to 20 per cent of GDP.

However, the State only spared 10 per cent of this for agricultural production. Nevertheless, most of this was spent on irrigation systems.

Over the past five years, more than 2.5 million people have had to move from their farm land as it was transferred into industrial areas or golf courses.

Deputy Hoang Thuong Luong of Yen Bai Province said the number of poor households in rural and upland areas was three times higher than for the nation as a whole - about 11 per cent.

Deputy Nguyen Hong Nhi of Nghe An Province said that it was necessary to boost projects related to rural areas and agricultural production. Many of these overlapped, but as they were not the responsibility of specific agencies, little was done.

Nhi said that there should be clear and simple mechanisms regulating the tasks of every agency involved in each project.

Deputy Luong of Yen Bai Province said projects to build and improve public infrastructure in the 62 poorest districts only received 30 per cent of the necessary capital. He said these projects, such as schools, health stations, roads and irrigation systems, should be given proper funding.

Deputy Dung of Dak Lak Province said unemployed people needed financial support to learn job skills or seek jobs in other sectors to raise their incomes and shrink the rural-city gap.

Deputy Duong Kim Anh of Tra Vinh Province said the number of unemployed people in rural areas had increased. In Cuu Long Delta alone, the number of unemployed people now accounted for 25 per cent of the population.

She said that in its 2010 socio-economic tasks, the Government should focus on considering the project of training and creating jobs for labourers in rural areas proposed by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. She added that this would contribute to the development of rural areas.

Deputy Nguyen Van Son of Tuyen Quang Province said people in rural areas were unemployed due to a lack of job skills. There were 92 vocational training schools nationwide, but only two in northwestern and highlands provinces.

Roads, healthcare

Deputy Tong Van Thoong of Lai Chau Province said that infrastructure, especially the roads, electricity systems and healthcare services in these areas had yet to receive proper investment. He said 30 per cent of Lai Chau Province’s districts had yet to access national electricity system.

Thoong said the national programme supporting the 62 poorest districts should be adjusted to match the features and demands of each locality.

Deputies agreed that the programme should play an important role in developing the socio-economy of rural areas.

Deputy Tran Kim Anh of Tra Vinh Province said the Government had invested a lot of money in scientific and technological research to boost agricultural productivity. However, this had produced few results.

Research into rice varieties had swallowed VND30 billion (US$1.6 million) over several years, but this had not resulted in any new breeds with high quality or productivity, said Kim Anh.

The deputies suggested it would be better to invest in the farmers’ own initiatives in creating new machines and plant breeds.

Deputy Tran Van Tan of Tien Giang Province said new agricultural production models had proved effective. However, they had yet to get proper attention from relevant authorities and few farmers knew of them.

Deputy Hoang Ngoc Thai of Ninh Thuan Province said that during difficult times, thousands of private enterprises and households had contributed their resources to economic development, so there should be favourable policies to boost the development of these enterprises.

Administrative reform should create favourable conditions for these projects, said Thai.

Source: VietNamNet/Viet Nam News