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Social
News 16/8
Foreign-funded
project benefits Dong Nai’s disabled
Nearly 250 disabled
people in southern Dong Nai province benefit from a project that is being
carried out by the provincial Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social
Affairs under the support of the Handicap International in
It was reported at
a meeting in the locality on August 13 that the project has focused on giving
vocational training to disabled people with working capacity in 18 communes.
Following training, the beneficiaries were provided with capital for starting
their own production or business, or introduced to job opportunities.
After three years
of implementation, as many as 198 local people with disabilities were
provided with non-refundable capital worth nearly 1.5 billion VND (70,500
USD), which aids them in beginning production and business by themselves.
Meanwhile, 49 others have found jobs in 18 enterprises operating in Dong Nai
so far.
A representative
from San Lim Furniture Vietnam Co., Ltd said the firm has started recruiting
disabled employees since 2009, and currently 36 workers with disabilities are
working in the enterprise with a monthly average salary of 5-6 million VND.
To give best
support to disabled people, the project’s workers have conducted surveys on
the need for jobs and social welfare for the disabled in the locality,
provided training and consultation for vocational training centres’ staffs on
how to work with the disabled.
They have also
called on enterprises to employ disabled workers and make it easier for the
disabled to access start-up investment.
Province
looks back at development of wetland area
The Mekong Delta
Dong Thap Muoi (or
Plain of Reeds) covers more than 690,000ha of land, accounting for some 17.7
percent of the Mekong Delta’s natural area. The area, with nearly 40 percent
originally alkaline soil, spreads over Tien Giang, Long An and Dong Thap
provinces.
Rice output in the
area now contributes largely to the total volume of this farm produce in the
Mekong Delta region –
Reports by
scientists from southern research institutes and universities highlighted
experience in reclaiming marshland and building dykes in Dong Thap Muoi for
raising crops and livestock and developing trade and services.
Thanks to those
efforts over the past four decades, the part of Dong Thap Muoi in Tien Giang
became Tan Phuoc district, a dynamic administrative unit in the northwest of
the province.
Chairman of the
provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Khang said after 20 years of
establishment, Tan Phuoc has made development breakthroughs.
Notably, it has
created a 15,000ha area specialising in growing pineapples with an annual
output of some 250,000 tonnes. The district also owns nearly 5,000ha of
high-yield rice, 1,200ha of food crops and 3,500ha of forest trees, he added.
Local per capita
income increased almost 10 times in the period from 1995 to 2013 while the
rate of household poverty dropped from 45 percent to 11.4 percent, the
official noted.
Tran Huu Thang, a
lecturer at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, said effective
irrigation measures, including building a canal system, play the greatest
role in land reclamation, thus creating a stepping stone to local
development.-
Improving
population quality and maintaining a reasonable birth rate to meet human resources
demand for national development were the main topics of discussion at a
seminar in northern Hung Yen province on August 13.
The topics are also
the major orientations of the target programme on population and family
planning in 2016-2020.
More than 200
representatives from the Health Ministry and population departments of 63
provinces and cities re-affirmed the importance of the population and family
planning programme for the socio-economic development.
Birth reduction and
high population quality will save spending on social services, reduce poverty
and improve people’s living standards, especially mother’s health, and reduce
the child mortality rate, thus easing burdens on the society, they said.
According to the
General Department of Population and Family Planning, Vietnam is facing big
population challenges in the transitional period from a high to low fertility
rate and from a young to old population structure.
Two out of the
country’s six main regions, namely the
The country sees a
high gender imbalance at birth, which tends to be increasing, as well as poor
population quality, including lower stature and physical strength indicators
than those of regional countries.
Participants also
pointed out limitations in carrying out the programme, including poor
investment, weak human resources, and asynchronous and slow implementation of
activities.
In 2015,
The rate of people
using modern contraceptive methods is expected to rise from 27 percent last
year to 71 percent in 2015, and the sex ratio at birth to be curbed at 114.5
boys to 100 girls.
The prenatal
screening rate is hoped to be raised to 15 percent while the rate of newborn
screening, up 30 percent.
In the 2016-2020,
the country aims to reach a sex ratio at birth of 115 boys to 100 girls,
increase the rate of elderly people with access to health care services to 50
percent, and maintaining a reasonable birth rate.
Better
policy needed to draw investment in hi-tech agriculture
Better policies are
essential for persuading businesses to invest in hi-tech agriculture, heard a
workshop in
Experts said
localities should develop public-private development cooperation projects in
the field and encourage enterprises to participate in them.
Attention should
also be paid to enhancing farmers’ capacity to apply hi-tech agriculture as
they are the target of technology transfer.
In addition to the
current 88.17 ha hi-tech agriculture zone which specialises in cultivation,
the city plans to zone off a 200 ha area in Cu Chi district for developing
hi-tech cultivation, ornamental fish breeding and aquatic plants, while 90ha
in Can Gio district will be designated for aquaculture.
Meanwhile, a
hi-tech centre focusing on animal breeding will be set up in Binh Chanh
district, according to the municipal management board of hi-tech agriculture
park.
The country has a
strong history of agriculture, with 70 percent of the population live on
farming.
As many as 13
forest fires occurred in the central
The figure brought
the total number of blazes in the province to 52 since the beginning of this
year, wiping out over 378 ha of forests, according to the provincial forest
management department.
Phu Cat district
was the hardest hit with more than 118 ha, followed by Quy Nhon city, 76.31
ha; and Van Canh mountainous district, nearly 68 ha.
More than 1,600 ha
of forests have dried out as a result of the ongoing drought. Most of the
forest areas are at high risk of fires.
Being aware of the
situation, local authorities have asked the department in coordination with
relevant agencies to intensify measures against massive fires.
In 2013, nearly 250
fires hit the country, destroying 965 ha of forests. No casualties were
reported.
The same year, more
than 227,000 ha of land nationwide were covered with trees, according to the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The country aims to
raise the forest coverage rate to 41.5 percent this year.
Minister
asks for VND2 trillion to fix Central Highland immigration problem
The Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development proposed allocating VND2 trillion (USD95
million) over the next three years to aid the settlement of immigrants to the
Central Highlands.
At the conference
on immigration and population dispersion on August 13, Deputy Prime Minister
Nguyen Xuan Phuc drew attention to the problem. According to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, many households have moved to the
highlands, increasing the population and causing some troubles for the
municipal authorities.
"Even though
many families have settled down, the situation remains complicated. It's
especially difficult to dissuade those who wish to immigrate to the northeast
and the highlands. But the large numbers of people moving have caused some
troubles for the authorities in terms of management and ensuring social
order," said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The average number
of households relocating to the highlands has been about 2,000 per year over
the last decade, but it has also been volatile over time. In 2008, the number
reached 4,247, but dipped to 695 in 2013. Most of these people are poor and
from ethnic minorities traditionally located in northeastern provinces. The
flood has increased the amount of people in the Central Highlands living in
poverty.
Due to poverty their
poverty, many do not possess land for homes or agriculture lands and lack
proper healthcare and education. As a result, the region has also had to deal
with increasing deforestation and land disputes. The latest report shows the
problem has somewhat improved, as thousands of families have moved to
settlement areas where they receive basic services provided for by municipal
authorities.
The minister
proposed to direct more investment toward these disadvantaged areas in order
to further improve the displacement problem. He said, "This will require
VND2 trillion over the next three years. We suggested to spending VND500
billion to deal with the most immediate problems in the year first."
The deputy prime
minister said, in order to completely deal with this problem, municipal
authorities will have to address the root causes and adjust policies so as to
improve the living standards for citizens of the region.
Modern
technology needed to minimize post harvest losses
With an annual
production of about 25 million tonnes, accounting for 55 percent of the
country’s total rice production, the Mekong Delta has become the largest rice
granary in the country, said the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Online
Newspaper.
However,
post-harvest losses are still high and this has resulted in poor improvement
of farmers' living standards. It is necessary to apply modern technology to
improve the quality of rice and minimize post-harvest losses, said the
newspaper.
According to Dr.
Pham Van Tan, from the Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Engineering &
Post-Harvest Technology (SIAEP), the rice supply chain consists of a logical
technological process in the following stages: breeding, cultivation
(planting and care), harvesting, drying, storage, husking, processing and
consumption.
In the chain of the
process, the quality of product does not only depend on the quality of the
technology applied during that stage, but also depends on the quality of the
technology at every previous stage.
Development of the
rice supply chain in the Mekong Delta, has shown that the purpose of the
preservation is to ensure the quality of rice. Most farmers in the Mekong
Delta can only afford to preserve rice seed for next crop and harvested rice
for family consumption.
If they cannot sell
rice immediately after preliminary drying, due to too low market prices
farmers often temporarily store rice in PP bags or jute bags of 30 - 50kg.
They pile them anywhere available and cover them with canvas to protect them
from the rain and frogs between one and two weeks at best and several months
at worst. This method of storage, for any period, reduces the quality of rice
and cause economic losses.
In recent years,
drying rice by machine after harvest has developed significantly in the
Delta, accounting for about 47 percent of the crop compared to the demand.
To reduce the post
harvest losses, the drying and preservation of rice are two key steps that
need to be standardized throughout the
Lao
delegation study new-style rural areas in Gia Lai
A delegation of the
Lao National Committee for Rural Development and Poverty Eradication on
August 13 had a fact-finding tour to the Central Highlands
Lao officials
visited Bien Ho, one of the first five communes of Gia Lai succeeding in
meeting all 19 criteria of building new-style rural areas.
They paid special
attention to measures to mobilise capital for building infrastructure and
profitable production and livestock farming models.
Vice Chairman of
the Lao committee Thongvanh Vilayheuang said Bien Ho’s experiences are very
useful for his country in its effort to develop its rural areas
comprehensively.
Building
infrastructure, improving production capacity, constructing public works,
protecting the landscape and environment, and promoting local traditions and
cultural identities are among them.
Gia Lai targets an
additional 25 out of the 185 communes satisfying all criteria by the end of
2014.-
Exhibition
on Quang Tri UXO victims opens in Hanoi
The photos were
taken by a group of students from
The photos reflect
pains and losses of those who suffer from UXOs left by the war as well as
their efforts to overcome the fate to contribute to the society through lens
of the youths.
The exhibition that
opened on August 11 is a message on peace and a dream of life without war and
is to call for support for the victims.
The exhibition will
run till August 17.
According to the
National Steering Committee for Recovery over the Postwar Bomb and Landmine
Impact, about 800,000 tonnes of UXOs, scattered across 6.6 million hectares
or 20.12 percent of the country’s land, are putting people in danger every
day.
Latest statistics
show that ordnance left behind by the war has killed more than 42,000 people
and injured 60,000 others nationwide.
Global fund
helps improve Ninh Thuan’s medical system
The Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has provided over 176,000 USD
for the central coastal
According to
Director of the provincial Health Department Le Minh Dinh, the GFATM project
aims to improve capacity for local medical staff through training courses and
provide equipment for district and communal clinics.
It also supports
the improvement of the health system management, especially in planning,
monitoring and evaluating activities.
The project, now in
its second phase, will purchase medical equipment for 15 communal clinics in
the four districts of Thuan
The medical centres
of Thuan
In the first phase,
the project provided equipment for the health centres of Bac Ai and Thuan Bac
districts and 15 communal clinics in the two districts as well as training
courses for their staff.
Ninh Thuan is one
of the 15 provinces benefiting from the project, which has been implemented
between 2012 and 2016 with a total investment of 87 million USD.
Workshop
seeks better conditions for female workers
A workshop was held
in
Female workers make
up 80 percent of the workforce of the garment, textile and footwear sectors,
mainly young migrants, heard the workshop, which was jointly held by the
Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Ho Chi Minh City Branch (
The event was part
of a European Union-funded project, which targets increasing female migrant
workers’ access to quality reproductive healthcare services, particularly
birth control counseling.
The beneficiaries
of the project, implemented by MSIVN in 2013-2015, are over 100,000 female
labourers from eight factories in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and
Dong Nai.
Enterprises should
be fully aware of constantly bettering working conditions for female
workforce, as it, in turn, will increase productivity and sustain stable
operations for them, said Vo Tan Thanh, Director of VCCI – HCM City.
Agreeing with
Thanh’s opinion, Nguyen Thi Bich Hang, Head of MSIVN also said that good
reproductive healthcare services will help forge a win-win situation for both
workers and enterprises.
As women account
for a large proportion of the country’s workforce, many important policies
and laws containing the issues related to them have been adopted, including
the Labour Code.
New
national road to be built in Thai Nguyen
A project on
building a new section of National Highway No.3 in the BOT
(Build-Operate-Transfer) form will be commenced in September, investors
reported to Transport Minister Dinh La Thang at a working session on August
12.
The 40.2 km section
will connect the northern province of Thai Nguyen and Cho Moi district in the
northern mountainous province of Bac Kan.
Investment capital
for the first phase of the project is more than 2.3 trillion VND
(approximately 112 million USD), of which over 1.4 trillion VND (66.6 million
USD) will be spent on construction work and 272 billion VND (12.9 million
USD) will be paid for site clearance.
Minister Thang said
calling for BOT investment is a right choice for transport development to
ease the pressure on the State budget.
Deputy PM
pushes for marine resource, environment projects
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai urged a push for a raft of marine resource and
environment projects at a meeting in
He directed
concrete tasks to ensure that the projects meet schedule, saying that
mechanisms should be fixed towards simplifying administrative procedures.
The State Steering
Committee for Marine Resource and Environment Baseline Survey informed him
that seven projects for the 2006-2012 period have yet to end while the
progress of the 2013-2020 projects remains at a slow pace, in part due to
poor coordination between localities.
At the meeting, the
committee reviewed its activities in the first half and mulled its tasks for
the rest of this year.
Deputy PM Hai gave
his opinions on the State budget allocation for licensed and delayed
projects.
Preparations
for 10th ASEAN Skills Competition inspected
Colleges, selected
as venues for the 10th ASEAN Skills Competition, are making good preparations
for the event, which will be organised in
This was an
assessment by a delegation from the steering committee for organisation of
the competition while they were inspecting preparation work at the
Professors and
lecturers at the colleges were urged to help competitors improve their
knowledge, skills and foreign language standards.
The biennial event
aims to promote and improve vocational skills in the region so that they can
meet international standards. This year’s event is expected to attract 293
young workers, under the age of 22, from 10 ASEAN member countries competing
in 23 occupational skills and two performance skills.
With the
participation of 51 competitors in all skills,
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Bảy, 16 tháng 8, 2014
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