New Countryside Construction: Shifted from Quantity to Quality

Like other places across the country, new countryside construction was focused by Thai Binh province to shift from quantity to quality.

New countryside construction has given a new facelift to Thai Binh countryside, reduced the gap between rural and urban areas, and improved people's living standards.

According to the Thai Binh Office for Rural Development, Thai Binh province has all 237 communes meet rural development standards, with two fulfilling advanced rural development standards and four communes completing procedures for this status; all seven districts meet rural development standards; and Thai Binh City completes new rural development tasks. The province is completing procedures submitted to the Government for certified completion of new rural development tasks. Knowing that new countryside construction is a constant task, Thai Binh province continues to build advanced new rural areas and model new rural areas in the years to come.

To shift to quality-focused construction of new rural areas where farmers are placed as primary actors who directly implement this work and enjoy fruits from it, many localities in Thai Binh province are making efforts to restructure agriculture coupled with advanced rural development, helping successfully complete targets set out by the Resolution of the 20th Provincial Party Congress in the 2020 - 2025 term.

Mr. Do Quy Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Chief of Thai Binh Office for New Rural Construction, said that the province will have 20% of communes certified to meet advanced new rural development standards in the 2021 - 2025 period. To achieve this goal, Thai Binh province directs localities to maintain and improve the quality of new rural construction criteria, and at the same time select communes with available advantages for advanced new rural development in 2021. Communes follow advanced new-style rural area criteria, focusing on implementing difficult criteria such as traffic criteria, business criteria and environmental criteria, with over 5% of households having waste segregation at source.

Thai Thuy district completed the new countryside construction program and is carrying out advanced rural development. The Executive Committee of Thai Thuy Party Committee issued Resolution 03 on focused leadership and direction of advanced rural development in 2021 - 2025, with a vision to 2030. By the end of 2025, the district will have 10 - 12 communes certified to meet advanced rural development standards. Up to now, the district has achieved initially positive results. In October 2021, Thuy Chinh and Thuy Lien communes of the district were certified to achieve advanced rural development standards.

Binh Nguyen commune (Kien Xuong district) completed the new rural development standard in 2014. It has focused all its resources for higher criteria of advanced rural development by the end of 2023. So far, the commune has achieved seven advanced countryside development criteria. In order to realize this goal in 2023, the Binh Nguyen People's Committee assigned personnel to work out detailed plans in scale, capital and schedule to achieve the goal in time.

New rural development results across localities in Thai Binh province are just the beginning. How to maintain and constantly raise the quality of new rural development criteria higher is an important factor to achieve a sustainable new countryside.

After 10 years of implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Development, many rural areas have been given a facelift and farmers' livelihoods have been significantly improved. Residents there are prouder and more confident about governmental policies. This is also an important premise and a practical basis for localities to register for enhanced rural development standards.

Source: Vietnam Business Forum