New colors in ethnic minority areas of Hau Giang province

In 2024, Hau Giang province successfully organized the launching ceremony to build and hand over 1,429 houses to poor and near-poor households with housing difficulties.

Imprint of poverty reduction

According to statistics from the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Hau Giang province, ethnic minorities in Hau Giang province account for 4.16% of the province's population; of which 24,103 Khmer people, accounting for 3.3% of the province's population; followed by the Chinese, Cham and other ethnic groups. The majority of ethnic minorities in the province live on agriculture; live interspersed, mostly in remote areas, areas with difficult socio -economic conditions.

Over the years, ethnic programs and policies have contributed significantly to changing the face of the villages and hamlets, and the lives of ethnic minorities in Hau Giang have been significantly improved. In particular, the results of poverty reduction in ethnic minority areas and the reduction of poor households of ethnic minorities are considered a milestone in the field of ethnic work and implementation of ethnic policies in Hau Giang province.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Trieu, Head of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Hau Giang province, said: With the effective implementation of investment programs and projects, and support from the state budget, the province's ethnic minority areas continue to change in all areas. Along with the policies managed by the ethnic affairs sector, the province has integrated and effectively applied policies implemented in ethnic minority areas for ethnic minorities. Thanks to that, the province's poor ethnic minority households have decreased sharply, from 32.15% in 2016 (according to the multidimensional poverty standard) to 13.24% at the end of 2022 (multidimensional poverty standard).

“By the end of 2023, according to the multidimensional poverty standard for the period 2021 - 2025, the whole province has 6,611 poor households, accounting for 3.29% of the total number of households. Of which, ethnic minority poor households are 1,075 households, accounting for 11.46% of the total number of poor households in the whole province and accounting for 13.13% of the total number of ethnic minority households, down 2.88% compared to 2021,” said Mr. Trieu.

Head of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Hau Giang province Nguyen Hoang Trieu added that by 2024, Hau Giang aims to reduce the poverty rate among ethnic minorities by 2-3%; 95% of ethnic minorities have access to clean water; improve technical infrastructure and social infrastructure in extremely disadvantaged communes in ethnic minority areas; reduce the rate of underweight malnourished children to below 10.45%...

Ethnic investment and support programs and policies have helped ethnic minority households in Hau Giang solve urgent needs in life, create conditions to develop production, thereby increasing income. A preliminary statistic on the living standards of Khmer people in Hau Giang shows that in 2018, the average income per capita of Khmer people in the province was only 15 million VND/person/year; by the end of 2023, it had increased to 30 million VND/person/year, nearly half of the average income per capita/year of the province.

Hau Giang province focuses on investing in infrastructure, focusing on supporting production development, creating livelihoods to sustainably reduce poverty in ethnic minority areas.

Village change

According to Decision No. 861/QD-TTg, in the period of 2021 - 2025, Hau Giang province has 4 communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Of which, there are 02 communes in area III (Luong Nghia, Xa Phien) in Long My district; 02 communes in area I (Hoa Luu, Vi Tan) in Vi Thanh city. Besides the mark in poverty reduction, the effectiveness of ethnic minority programs and policies in ethnic minority areas of Hau Giang province is most clearly demonstrated in the new appearance of communes in area III of Long My district.

According to Mr. Dang Hoang Vu, Permanent Vice Chairman of Long My District People's Committee, implementing the National Target Programs, especially the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period (National Target Program 1719), the district prioritizes resources for infrastructure investment, focusing on supporting production development, creating livelihoods to sustainably reduce poverty in the district's ethnic minority areas. For National Target Program 1719 alone, the district has implemented support projects with a total budget of 56 billion VND.

“In the 2024-2029 period, the district will continue to deploy and implement poverty reduction policies, economic development, promote the effectiveness of ethnic work and ethnic policies, and create consensus among the people,” said Mr. Vu.

Ethnic programs and policies have created favorable conditions for ethnic minority households in Long My district to escape poverty and gradually become rich. For example, Mr. Ly Ni's family in Hamlet 5, Xa Phien Commune, was formerly a poor household, and his family's income depended on his job as a construction worker. Borrowing 30 million VND from preferential credit, he invested in raising sows and eels. In the past 3 years, from raising pigs, eels and working as a construction worker, after deducting all expenses, his family has earned over 200 million VND/year.

The number of ethnic minority households like Mr. Ly Ni's family is increasingly appearing in difficult areas, remote areas of Hau Giang province, with the "push" from the National Target Program 1719. Report No. 93/BC-BDT dated September 30, 2024 of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Hau Giang province shows that the total budget capital plan for the period 2021 - 2025 to implement the National Target Program 1719 in the province is assigned 122,078 million VND. With the efforts of the entire political system, Hau Giang province has been completing the goals in phase I of the National Target Program 1719.

Data from the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Hau Giang province shows that, as of July 2024, 15/24 specific targets and key indicators of the National Target Program 1719 have been achieved and exceeded the plan; the remaining 9/24 specific targets and key indicators, the province will strive to "reach the finish line" in 2025.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Trieu, Head of the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Hau Giang province, the National Target Program 1719 has contributed to socio-economic development in extremely difficult areas and communes in ethnic minority areas of the province. During the implementation process, localities in the province have promoted people's resources, making an important contribution to changing the appearance of rural areas in ethnic minority areas of the province.

“The effective implementation of programs and projects has contributed to improving the lives of people, especially ethnic minorities; the intellectual level of the people has been raised, production practices and techniques have changed towards commodity production; infrastructure has been invested in and built; and grassroots cadres have been trained and fostered,” Mr. Trieu affirmed.

The positive changes in the ethnic minority areas of Hau Giang today are a testament to the correctness of the Party and State's guidelines, policies and policies in caring for the ethnic minorities in recent times. This is also a driving force to help the people of Hau Giang province in general and the ethnic minorities in the province in particular compete in labor production, socio-economic development, contributing to hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and building a rich and beautiful homeland.

Hau Giang: Visiting and presenting gifts to the Provincial Association of Patriotic Monks and Nuns on the occasion of Sen Dolta Festival

Source: https://baodantoc.vn/sac-moi-o-vung-dong-bao-dtts-tinh-hau-giang-1727841720514.htm