Many challenges in new rural construction

Before coming together, Thai Nguyen province had 115/121 communes and Bac Kan had 29/95 communes meeting new rural standards. By the end of June 2025, the two localities had 54 communes meeting advanced new rural standards and 12 communes meeting model new rural standards. After the arrangement of provincial administrative units and the implementation of the 2-level local government model, the National Target Program on New Rural Development in Thai Nguyen province officially entered a new phase with a larger scale, higher requirements and many new challenges.

In order to increase income for people in the northern communes of the province, including Kunming, the authorities have implemented many hybrid corn planting models with high productivity and economic efficiency.

Difficulties to overcome

In order to strive to complete the goals and tasks of 2025, from the beginning of the year, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Nguyen and Bac Kan provinces proactively and promptly advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue a plan to implement the National Target Program (NTP) on new rural construction (NTM) in 2025. In particular, Thai Nguyen province set a target of 2 communes meeting NTM standards; Bac Kan province has 37 communes meeting NTM standards, 10 communes meeting advanced NTM standards and 2 communes meeting model NTM standards.

Mr. Dang Van Huy, Director of the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment: "Before the merger, Thai Nguyen province had completed the goals of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction for the 2021-2025 period, with some targets exceeding the set plan."

However, due to the implementation of the policy of restructuring, organizing the apparatus and implementing the 2-level local government model, the goal of building a new rural area set at the beginning of 2025 is no longer suitable and there is no basis for continued implementation. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Head of the Provincial Department of Economic Cooperation and Rural Development, said: Most of the communes after the restructuring have larger areas, populations, etc., and have not been able to develop a general plan, so the planning criteria have not been met. The number of communes after the merger has decreased significantly, so the goal of building a new rural area set at the beginning of 2025 is no longer suitable.

In addition to the above factors, some communes merged with wards so there is no basis for organizing assessment and recognition, because there are no instructions for these communes. Currently, the Central Government has not yet provided instructions for implementing the New Rural Criteria at all levels, as well as instructions for assessing, re-recognizing or inheriting the results of building New Rural Areas for newly formed communes after the merger. At the same time, there is no adjustment to the goals and tasks of implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Area Construction in 2025 assigned to the provinces and cities after the merger.

This is the reason why the Government organized a National Conference to review the National Target Program on New Rural Development and the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2025 period on June 22. For Thai Nguyen, a conference to review these programs was held on June 25.

After the merger, the National Target Program on New Rural Development will continue to be implemented. However, the criteria for building new rural areas will be adjusted to suit the actual situation. However, it cannot be denied that Thai Nguyen is facing many challenges when, after reviewing and evaluating the current status of the northern communes of the province (formerly Bac Kan province), only 4 communes have met the new rural standards, no commune has met the advanced new rural standards, or the model new rural standards.

It is worth mentioning that there are 31 communes that have not met the NTM standards, of which only 1 commune has met 15 criteria or more; 8 communes have met 10 to 14 criteria; 19 communes have met 5 to 9 criteria. In particular, there are 3 communes that have met less than 5 criteria: Nghien Loan (3 criteria); Cao Minh and Dong Phuc (4 criteria).

Farmers in Trang Xa commune harvest spring rice.

Most of the northern localities of the province are communes in Region III, in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, and the level of meeting new rural criteria is still low. Many criteria are in the "difficult" group such as transportation, schools, cultural facilities, environment and food safety, quality of living environment... In particular, the criteria on income and multidimensional poverty rate require large investment resources and long implementation time.

In addition, after the administrative unit arrangement, the area and population of many communes increased significantly, the population was sparsely distributed, the amount of work needed to complete to meet the remaining criteria was very large, while the ability to mobilize counterpart resources from the people was limited. These factors made the journey to the NTM finish line even more difficult.

To achieve the set goals, it requires high political determination, the synchronous participation of the entire political system and strong enough investment resources. Above all, it is necessary to arouse the spirit of consensus and joint efforts of the people - the central subject in building new rural areas.

Include targets in new term resolution

In the period of 2026-2030, Thai Nguyen province plans to strive for 100% of communes to meet NTM standards. According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, this is a very high political determination, demonstrating the attention of the Party Committee and provincial government to agriculture, farmers, and rural areas, especially in the northern communes.

To complete the goals of building new rural areas, including the relevant targets and tasks in the resolutions of the Party Congresses at the commune and provincial levels for the 2025-2030 term is a necessary and strategic step. This is not only the concretization of the Party's major policies, but also clearly demonstrates the Party's comprehensive and absolute leadership role in all aspects, including building new rural areas. More importantly, this creates a solid political foundation, becoming a compass for the entire political system to act together and coordinate synchronously from the province to the grassroots level.

The new rural appearance in Kha Son commune is increasingly green - clean - beautiful.

Based on the regulations and instructions of the Central Government, Thai Nguyen is continuing to review and perfect the system of directive and management documents and specific mechanisms and policies at the provincial level, ensuring that they are suitable for the new context, especially the requirements of digital transformation, green development, circular economy and sustainability.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Quyet, Secretary of Phu Lac Commune Party Committee: "Including the goals and targets of new rural construction into the resolutions of the commune-level and provincial Party Congresses for the 2025-2030 term will further enhance the role and responsibility of Party committees, authorities, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations. At the same time, attaching the responsibility of the heads of Party committees and authorities in leading and directing the implementation of new rural construction.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, to effectively implement the New Rural Development Program in the new period, Thai Nguyen needs to soon develop a suitable investment mechanism, focusing on increasing the level of support for communes with special difficulties and low achievement criteria, especially communes in the North of the province. Priority focus is on contents related to clean water, environment, green technology application, infrastructure development, rural tourism and OCOP products. Along with that, research and pilot implementation of flexible financial mechanisms, support according to output results and strongly promote the socialization of resources to maximize the participation of the community and businesses.

The province also needs to continue to innovate and improve the effectiveness of information and communication work on new rural construction, strongly shifting from traditional forms to applying digital platforms. Communication needs to be carried out synchronously according to each component content, associated with key topics, such as: Digital transformation in agriculture, rural tourism development, OCOP program, environmental protection, maintaining rural security and order, etc. to raise awareness, create consensus and spread widely throughout society.

Synchronously implement solutions to mobilize and effectively integrate resources, including central and local budgets, private capital, credit, development funds, etc. to ensure timely capital allocation and supplementation, meeting implementation progress. Proactively develop a revenue allocation mechanism, giving priority to new rural construction, especially in disadvantaged areas, contributing to narrowing the development gap between regions.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen inspection, examination, supervision and evaluation of implementation at all levels and sectors. Thereby, promptly remove difficulties and obstacles, at the same time have solutions to prevent and stop negative manifestations, waste and strictly handle violations arising during the implementation process.

In the 2026-2035 period, the National Target Program on New Rural Development nationwide sets specific goals, reflecting the aspiration for inclusive, sustainable development and towards real quality. Specifically, the average income per capita in rural areas strives to increase at least 1.6 times compared to 2030, reaching about 168 million VND/person/year. The national multidimensional poverty rate is reduced to less than 1%.

The program aims to have at least 95% of communes meet NTM standards; of which 70% of communes meet advanced NTM standards and 25% of communes meet modern NTM standards. Notably, the program also aims for equitable development among regions through increasing the number of localities meeting standards at the provincial level.

It is expected that by 2035, at least 15 provinces and cities nationwide will be recognized as having completed the goal of building a new rural area, of which 8 to 10 provinces and cities will meet the standards of building a modern new rural area. These are motivational goals, requiring the synchronous participation of the entire political system, along with the initiative and creativity of each locality and people.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/202507/nhieu-thach-thuc-trong-xay-dung-nong-thon-moi-4615a15/