The south-central province of Ninh Thuan has earmarked some 129,000 USD for developing local craft villages in a bid to boost rural incomes and build new-style rural areas.

The sum will be channelled into vocational training, infrastructure building and the formation of cooperatives, while supporting production, environmental treatment and related tourism development. Ninh Thuan also plans to design technical demos, a website for craft villages, and assist craft facilities in attending exhibitions and trade fairs. To date, the province has three recognized traditional craft villages – Bau Truc for pottery, and My Nghiep and Chung My for brocade weaving – in addition to dozens of others working in seafood processing, as well as producing fish sauce, woodwork products, and grape wine, among others. They have so far created thousands of jobs and contributed to the preservation of the culture of the ethnic communities in the locality. By 2020, Ninh Thuan aims to have four to five more accredited craft villages.-VNA