Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has to date had 3,370 communes, or 37.76 percentof the total, recognised as new-style rural areas, according to the Central CoordinationOffice for New Styled Rural Development.

The ratio is expected to rise to at least 40 percent as of the end of thisyear, up 3.37 percent from 2017.

Fifty-three districts of 27 provinces and central-run city earned therecognition, up 10 localities from the previous year.

Thanks to the local efforts to improve rural infrastructure, 4,944 communeshave met criteria on transportation, 7,653 satisfied criteria on irrigationalsystem, and 5,063 communes fulfilled the criteria on schooling facilities.

As many as 818 agricultural value chains to promotelocal staples have been developed in the localities, with high-technologyapplied extensively. Notably, specialised areas have been formed for thecultivation of high-value crops such as mango, green-skin pomelo and durian inDong Nai province, mango in Dong Thap province, dragon fruit in Binh Thuanprovince, Luc Ngan litchi in Bac Giang province, and Cao Phong orange in HoaBinh.

The country has registered around 4,823 local specialties or “one commune one product”(OCOP) products and tourism services. However, only 1,086 of them have registeredor announced their quality standards and 695 products have gained intellectualproperty protection.

The move will help promote the efficiency of the OCOP programme during2018-2020, making contributions to developing rural economy, increasing incomefor the locals while preserving traditions in each region.

At the same time, the central office has warned about a yawning gap in thenew-style rural building results among regions. The Red River Delta and thesoutheast region achieved 65.38 percent and 63.88 percent of the set targetwhile the ratio in the northern mountain, Central Highland, Mekong Delta andcoastal south central regions were 18.2 percent, 24.67 percent, 31.21 percentand 36.12 percent, respectively.

In order to earn the title of new style ruralareas, a commune or district must meet 20 criteria covering a wide range offields, from the development of infrastructure, the improvement of productioncapacity, environmental protection to the promotion of cultural values.

The national target programme on building new-styled rural areas was initiatedby the Vietnamese Government in 2010 with the aim of developing rural regions.It initially had 19 criteria, and the set of criteria was increased to 20 in2015.-VNA