After two years since implementation of the New Rural Development Plan in eleven select communes, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is drafting some changes to balance inappropriate standards with other localities.
According to Tang Minh Loc, head of the New Rural Development Plan under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the present standards stipulate that the per capita income in New Rural Communes must be 1.3 times higher than a neighboring commune; however, if all communes strive to have higher GDP, then this will not achieve the standards set under the development plan.
Similarly, New Rural Communes under the plan have only 35 percent of people working in farming, while the majority of the rural population (about 80 percent of residents) in the highland province of Lam Dong and the central highland town of Da Lat make a living from high tech flower growing, and net high profits of VND30 million a year per person.
The ministry hence made new provisions for the New Rural Communes to have a per capita income of VND22 million annually by 2020.
However, it will be different in each region; for instance, to achieve the required standards, people in communes in the Red River and the South East should earn more than VND24 million per person and VND20 million for people in the mountainous regions.
