Quang Nam (VNA) – The central province of Quang Nam’s efforts to reducepoverty rate among ethnic minority groups have given a new look to the ruralmountainous areas as local livelihoods have been improved significantly.

Guided by the Prime Minister’s Decision No.1557/QD-TTg dated September 10, 2015approving a number of targets in realising Millennium Development Goals forethnic minorities associate with the Sustainable Development Goal after 2015,the province has paid due attention to planning works and building residentialareas for residents in mountainous areas to ensure that they have stableaccommodation and land for production.

Last year, nearly 106 billion VND (4.56 million USD) was arranged to helpnearly 1,500 households settle down and branch out production.

The mountainous districts have combined forestry development with povertyreduction programmes while encouraging the cultivation of medicinal herbs inline with local policies.

During 2016-2017, the National Target Programme for Sustainable PovertyReduction allocated over 165 billion VND (7.09 million USD) to Quang Nam to supportinfrastructure and production model development for six poor districts and 19special difficult communes in coastal and island areas.

Particularly, after one year implementing the provincial policy on encouragingdistricts and communes to try and escape poverty, nearly 4,000 households,including 2,700 families in the mountainous areas, have registered to get outdeprived situation sustainably.

Last year, average economic growth in the ethnic minority area reached 7.1percent much higher than the province’s average level of 5.55 percent.

Poverty rate in the nine mountainous districts tapers off 5 percent per year.Nearly 92 percent of the ethnic population have been connected to the nationalelectricity grid while the rate of households using hygienic water is over 81percent.

The literacy rate reached nearly 98 percent among ethnic population from 15years old.

In a bid to realise the sustainable poverty reduction goal for ethnicminorities, Quang Nam province plans to prioritise more resources and carry outa set of comprehensive measures like infrastructure development, socio-economicdevelopment programme and preferential loans.

Quang Nam province is currently home to 32,000 ethnic minority households withnearly 150,000 people, accounting for 10 percent of the province’s population.They reside mostly in six mountainous districts of Nam Tra My, Bac Tra My, TayGiang, Nam Giang, Dong Giang and Phuoc Son.-VNA