Hanoi (VNA) – Up to 84.2 percent of the communes in the capital cityof Hanoi have met the standards for new-style rural areas as of April thisyear.

The city has completed building new-style rural areas two years ahead of theset target after 325 out of its 386 communes achieved all criteria. Currently,there are four new-style rural districts in the city, namely Dan Phuong, DongAnh, Thanh Tri and Hoai Duc.

According to Nguyen Van Chi, deputy head of the city’s steering office of thenew-style rural area building programme, Hanoi is a leading locality inbuilding new-style rural areas, and the programme has cast a new look to thecity’s outskirts, and helped improve livelihoods of locals.

Following the land accumulation and consolidation, farmers have shifted to thecultivation of high-economic value crops and orchards. Besides, due attentionhas been paid to developing traditional craft villages across the city.

Reports from the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development showthat after 10 years implementing the Party Committee’s Programme No.02-CTr/TUon branching out agriculture, building new-style rural areas and betteringlocal farmers’ lives, the added value of the agricultural sector increases 2.5percent per year on average, while the total value of agro-forestry-fisheryproduction inches up 3.6 percent.

Per capita income rose to 46.5 million VND (1,998 USD) in 2018 from 33 millionVND in 2015, and the figure is expected to increase to 49 million VND in theend of this year. In addition, the rate of poor households had been broughtdown to 1.81 percent in the end of 2018 from 3.65 percent in 2016.

Infrastructure development in rural areas has been well implemented, and evensurpasses the set goal. To be more specific, 378 communes have met requirementsin transportation standard, up 5 communes from the end of 2018, 384 communes satisfiedirrigational system standard, 386 reached electricity standard while school andcultural facility standards have seen the accomplishment of 342 and 373communes, respectively.

Besides, convenience stores and mini-markets have mushroomed on the edge of thecapital city.

According to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, Hanoisplashed out more than 76.45 trillion VND for local agricultural and ruraldevelopment from 2011 to June 2019. Especially, State budget worth nearly 26trillion VND was allocated for 18 districts and communes to carry out thenew-style rural area building programme.
The national programmetargets the average commune completing at least 15 out of the 19 criteria andno commune should have completed less than five. 

Under the programme, facilities like roads,electricity, clean water, schools and medical stations will be developed. 

Hanoi authorities recentlyannounced to spend 265 billion VND implementing the local One Commune-OneProduct (OCOP) programme for the 2019-2020 period, as part of efforts toaccelerate the building of new-style rural areas.

Accordingto the plan, 100 percent of OCOP programme managers at commune, district, andmunicipal level public agencies as well as at organizations, businesses andcooperatives registering for the programme will have to undergo training toimprove their building capacity.

Though implementing the initiative later than other localitiesnationwide, Hanoi is aiming to upgrade between 800 and 1,000 products to meetOCOP standards, of which 500 products are set to be ranked at the municipallevel and 100 others at the national level.

The capital city has set a goal of developing at least two eco-craftvillage models. It will look to improve the local origin tracing system foragro-forestry-fishery goods () and website serving Statemanagement and demand-supply connectivity related to Hanoi’s OCOP products ().

Initially, Hanoi’s OCOP programme will focus on a number of commodity groups,including food, beverage, herbs, fabrics and apparel, souvenir – homedecoration, and agricultural tourism. Participating organisations will receivesupport to invest in machines and equipment for production, design and registertheir brands, access capital, hire experts, and distribute goods.

Currently, the city has approximately 7,200 products suitable to sixOCOP groups. Of the total, there are 2,881 food products (39 percent); 2,417souvenir – home decoration products (33.5 percent); and 1,396 fabric andapparel products (19.3 percent).

Hanoi holds great potential to make significant progress in implementingthe OCOP programme. It has 157 large-scale fields and areas producinghigh-quality commercial rice, 157ha of fruit trees and over 80ha of tea meetingVietGap standards. The city also has 5,000ha for growing safe vegetables,including 352.7ha applying the VietGap standards and 40ha of organicvegetables.

The city has 76 key poultry breeding communes and 3,232 farms outsideresidential areas. It has 11 supply chains for safe vegetables and 21 othersfor products from farm animals.-VNA