Programme 135 helps reduce poverty rate in Soc Trang

The poverty rate among households in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang was reduced to 8.88 percent by the end of last year from 24.31 percent in 2010 thanks to the Government’s Programme 135.

The figure was revealed during a conference held on February 19 in Soc Trang to review the implementation of the programme in the province from 2010 to 2015.

In the past five years, the programme provided Soc Trang with 363 billion VND (about 15.8 million USD) to develop infrastructure and boost production.

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The province spent about 62 billion VND (2.7 million USD) to buy seeds and production equipment for Khmer ethnic poor farmers, enabling more than 11,300 Khmer households to escape poverty.

About 283 billion VND (12.3 million USD) was allocated to develop rural infrastructure. During the period, Soc Trang constructed 355 roads, 19 irrigation facilities, 37 communal houses, 13 schools, and four medical centres.

As a result, seven out of the 44 most disadvantaged communes fulfilled the targets of the programme and 19 communes was recognised as new-style rural areas, according to Ly Binh Cang, Head of the provincial Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs.

The rate of poor Khmer households dropped about 3.5-4 percent per year, he added.

The Government's Programme 135, launched in 1999 under the Prime Minister's Decision 135/1998/QD-TTg on July 31, 1998, aims to improve living conditions for rural residents with a particular focus on ethnic minority communities.

Last year, the programme invested in nearly 6,000 extremely disadvantaged areas including border communes and extremely disadvantaged hamlets, with a total funding of nearly 7.8 trillion VND (347.77 million USD).

As many as 2,275 disadvantaged communes in 48 provinces and cities nationwide will receive a share of the 21 trillion VND (942.5 million USD) fund from the State budget to boost socio-economic development during the 2016 to 2020 period.