The Government has allocated VND 101 trillion for agriculture, rural development and farmers in 2011, a senior government official said.

The Government has allocated VND 101 trillion for agriculture, rural development and farmers in 2011, a senior government official said.

The figure was unveiled by Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viết Sinh at a conference to review one year implementation of the National Target Program for New Rural Development on Tuesday.

The fund is equivalent to 51.5% of the country’s total investment capital, and represents an increase of 7.1% over 2010, he added.

By February of 2011, 100% provinces, 516 out of 609 districts, and 8,404 out of 9,121 communes throughout the country have established steering committees for deploying the national program, according to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Đức Phát.

Under the program, some 9,000 vocational training courses have been organized so far with the participation of around 300,000 people, including farmers, he said.

The national target program on building a new style of rural areas is a comprehensive and multi-sector project aiming to create breakthroughs in agriculture and rural development.

Of the program’s 19 criteria, education must be given the first priority as it has a domino effect on other domains, Deputy PM Nguyễn Sinh Hùng stressed at the conference.

The objective of the program is to have 20% of rural communes meeting new standards by 2015 and 50% by 2020.

The National Target Program has 11 contents as follows:

-          New rural construction planning

-          Developing new social and economic infrastructure

-          Restructuring, economic development to raise people's income

-          Reducing poverty and maintaining social security

-          Innovation and development of efficient production forms

-          Developing education - training in rural areas

-          Developing health care system in rural areas.

-          Building cultural and information - communication life

-          Water Supply and Sanitation in rural areas.

-          Improving the quality of Party - Government - Political – Society organizations

-          Maintaining security - social order in rural areas.