Up to now, the National Target Program on New Rural Development in Quang Tri has achieved remarkable results. However, for districts in mountainous areas, the implementation process is facing many difficulties. This is a challenge that requires great efforts from localities as well as attention and focused support resources from all levels, in order to remove the "bottlenecks" to help mountainous localities soon complete the New Rural Development program.

Huong Loc Commune focuses resources on investing in rural transport systems. - Photo: LT

Many criteria are difficult to implement

As a mountainous locality implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Development, Dakrong district has a low starting point, with a large gap compared to districts in the plains. In particular, infrastructure is limited and degraded; the educational level is uneven, the majority of the population is ethnic minorities with many backward customs and practices that affect life, production as well as the process of building New Rural Development.

With the determination of the entire political system, with efforts under the motto "Do easy things first, difficult things later", by the end of June 2023, the entire Dakrong district achieved 113 criteria/12 communes. Of which, Trieu Nguyen commune alone achieved 16/19 criteria; 3 communes: Ba Long, Mo O, Ta Rut achieved 11/19 criteria; A Ngo achieved 10 criteria and the remaining communes achieved less than 10 criteria. All the unmet criteria are "bottlenecks" that these localities are facing.

For example, in Dakrong commune, only 8/19 criteria for building new rural areas have been met. Among the criteria that the locality has not met, in addition to the "bottlenecks" that are really difficult to implement such as criteria 2, 10, 11 on transportation, income and poverty rate, Dakrong commune also faces difficulties in many other criteria.

Typically, for the health criterion, the locality has not been able to reach the finish line because the rate of stunted children is still high (26.2%); the program to implement electronic medical records only reached a low level of 10%. Or as for the cultural infrastructure criterion, Dakrong commune currently only has the Klu Community Tourism Area as a place for cultural exchange, organizing local festivals and sports activities, the rest, there are no places for entertainment, recreation, and sports for children and the elderly according to regulations.

In addition, most of the Community Learning Centers and Cultural Houses in villages and hamlets are degraded, damaged or have inadequate cultural facilities inside.

Currently, the rate of stunted children in Dakrong commune, Dakrong district is still high at 26.2%, so the health criteria have not been met - Photo: LT

Discussing the difficulties in the process of building new rural areas in the locality, Vice Chairman of Dakrong Commune People's Committee Vo Van Son shared that in order to "reach the finish line" of new rural areas, the locality still has many difficulties and challenges to overcome in the upcoming journey. The biggest "bottleneck" for the commune is completing the criteria on income and poverty rate.

The local difficulty is the unfavorable natural conditions, most of the area is mountainous, while the people's level is low, farming techniques are primitive and backward, mainly relying on traditional slash-and-burn farming. In addition, the scale of production and livestock farming is still fragmented and small, so economic development, income increase and sustainable poverty reduction are extremely difficult. This makes the implementation of related criteria extremely difficult.

Similarly, in the mountainous district of Huong Hoa, according to the review results, by the end of 2023, each commune will have achieved an average of 9.89 criteria. In addition to the 5 localities that have been recognized as meeting the NTM standards but some communes still owe criteria, there are 4 communes on the roadmap to register to meet the standards in the 2021-2025 period; the remaining communes have achieved 5-10 criteria. It can be affirmed that, in addition to the positive results brought about by the National Target Program on New Rural Construction, localities in Huong Hoa district are facing many barriers in the process of implementing some criteria.

In 2010, Thuan commune was one of 8 localities selected by the Provincial People's Committee as a pilot site for the construction of new rural areas. Despite the attention and support from all levels during the implementation process, after more than 12 years of implementation, the locality has only achieved 7/19 criteria.

Sharing the difficulties, Chairman of Thuan Commune People's Committee Ho A Dung said that the reason for the delay in the commune's new rural construction plan is that, in addition to the criteria that are difficult to implement due to the characteristics of a mountainous commune such as the poverty rate, traffic, income, etc., according to the new set of criteria for the period 2021-2025, the locality has reduced 4 criteria on information and communication, labor, health and national defense - security. Because, at the time of review, the locality has not met the above criteria due to asynchronous infrastructure; low awareness of the people; complicated social evils, etc.

Specific solutions are needed to "reach the finish line" of the new rural area.

Difficulties in building new rural areas in Dakrong and Huong Hoa districts are also common difficulties of most localities in mountainous areas, remote areas, and ethnic minority areas. According to statistics from the Quang Tri New Rural Coordination Office, the whole province currently has only 69/101 communes meeting new rural standards, accounting for over 68%, of which 9 communes meet advanced new rural standards.

At the district level, in addition to Cam Lo reaching the NTM finish line in 2019, striving to build an advanced NTM by the end of 2023 and by 2025 achieving a model NTM district, localities such as Trieu Phong and Hai Lang are striving to reach the NTM standard in 2023, Vinh Linh is striving to "reach the finish line" in 2024 and Gio Linh in 2025.

Districts that have met 3-4 district-level criteria are focusing on completing the remaining criteria. Thus, according to the roadmap for the 2023-2025 period, localities registering to meet NTM standards are mainly extremely disadvantaged localities in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

The rural appearance of Mo O commune, Dakrong district has improved a lot after nearly 13 years of implementing the new rural construction - Photo: LT

However, through review, it is shown that the results of building new rural areas in some regions still have quite large differences. For example, in Trieu Phong district, the locality currently achieves an average of 17.8 criteria/commune, while in Huong Hoa district, it only achieves an average of over 9 criteria/commune.

In addition, many localities have now moved to the stage of improving quality, building advanced and model new rural communes, but now there are about 28 communes in mountainous areas that only meet less than 13 criteria; some communes have met the standards but have not yet caught up with the criteria for the 2021-2025 period. Of which, 48/69 communes that have met the standards are preparing to reduce the criteria.

The cause of these problems is partly due to the fact that communes in mountainous areas mostly have a low starting point in building new rural areas, and are often affected by natural disasters and floods. Meanwhile, the funding source for implementing the program is still limited compared to the goals and requirements of the tasks set out. Mobilizing local resources in some localities faces many difficulties, especially capital from land funds and contributions from the people. The work of integrating capital sources from national target programs is not really synchronous and unified.

In addition, currently, the content of production development support under the National Target Programs has not been implemented due to difficulties in policy mechanisms. This affects the completion of income criteria, poor households, and production organization in communes, especially in particularly difficult communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. This leads to the slow progress of capital disbursement according to the annual plan.

After nearly 13 years of implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Development, in general, the rural appearance has improved, infrastructure has gradually met the needs of daily life and production; the material and spiritual life of the people has been improved. In order to give more strength to localities in difficult areas to "reach the finish line" of New Rural Development according to the roadmap, it is necessary to have the cooperation and support of all levels and sectors from the central to local levels.

In particular, continue to focus resources on localities, especially supporting districts to register for the roadmap to achieve NTM standards in the 2021-2025 period in mountainous areas; review, research, and propose specific mechanisms and policies for disadvantaged localities to contribute to the effective implementation of the program; strengthen the support of disadvantaged communes; regularly monitor, inspect, supervise, support, and guide localities in implementing the criteria and components of the program...

Le Truong