Central Highlands: 100 communes recognised as new-style rural areas

Of these communes, 50 are in Gia Lai province and 45 are in Lam Dong, which is also the first province in the region having a district recognised.

Since 2011, the Central Highlands provinces have mobilised over VND90 trillion (US$3.96 billion) to implement the new style rural area building programme, including VND2.23 trillion (US$98.12 million) from the State budget and the remaining from organisations and individuals.

The money has been allocated rationally for communes, helping poor communes narrow the infrastructure gap with others.

Ethnic minority people have voluntarily donated land and working hours to the new style rural area building.

More than 1,000 effective production models using high technologies in farming and aquaculture have been developed and multiplied in many localities.

For example, Lam Dong has over 43,000 hectares of hi-tech cultivation land, accounting for 15.9% of its agricultural land. As a result, agricultural production value and farmers’ income have increased by up to 30%.

The national programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government in 2010, includes 19 criteria on socio-economic development, politics and defence, aiming to boost rural areas of Vietnam.

The criteria cover infrastructure development, production capacity improvement, environmental protection and cultural value promotion.