Education decisive for new rural future, says PM

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PM Dung made the remark at a July 11 online conference to summarise the implementation of the Resolution of the seventh Party Central Committee Conference on agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

All levels, branches and localities should pay special attention to education and training and improve rural people’s knowledge, said the PM.

Nationwide, the rural face landscape has changed after almost three years of implementing the Resolution, affirmed Dung, adding that investment in agriculture and rural development has increased despite state budget collection difficulties.

Although facing many challenges with natural calamities, epidemics and global economic crisis, agriculture and rural areas have steadily overcome difficulties and maintained growth, contributing to the country’s socio-economic stability, the conference was told.

According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country’s agro-forestry and fisheries exports fetched $19.53 billion in 2010, $3.46 billion up from the previous year and surpassing the target set by the tenth National Party Congress by 81 per cent.

New rural models for the industrialisation and modernisation period have gradually taken shape after they were carried out experimentally in 11 communes in 11 cities and provinces.

According to the old criteria, the rate of poor households fell from 13.1 per cent in 2008 to 9.45 per cent in 2010 nationwide and from 16.2 per cent to 11.3 per cent in rural areas.

Local authorities said that limited knowledge and capability among grass root cadres is one of the biggest difficulties in implementing the Resolution.

Many proposals have been made to the central government to assist in cadre training and encourage business investment in rural areas, to create jobs and provide stable income for rural residents.

The conference defined the goal of bringing agriculture’s share in the country’s GDP to 17-18 per cent and called for the provision of training to 1 million rural labourers annually, doubling of rural residents’ income from that of 2010 and around 20 per cent of communes achieving new rural standards by 2015.

On the targets, PM Dung asked ministries, branches and localities to strictly follow eight groups of solutions provided in the Resolution, the content and criteria of the new rural construction programme and the poverty reduction programme to devise action programmes for their own locality.

In mobilising capital, it is necessary to combine the capital of the central budget and capital from the people and enterprises in a harmonious manner, he said.

Instructions should be focused on agricultural production and service industries with the promotion of scientific and technological application, increasing labour capacity and reducing product costs, said the PM.