Land reclamation improves life for Kon Tum ethnic minorities
Land reclamation improves life for Kon Tum ethnic minorities
An ethnic tribal girl take care of pepper plants in Yaxia Commune in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. Land reclamation has helped thousands of minority groups improve their living conditions. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Na
KON TUM — A government land reclamation policy begun in 2004 has helped thousands of ethnic minorities improve their living conditions in Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands.
More than half of Kon Tum’s population of 38,000 are ethnic minorities and many of them are poor and landless.
Decision 134 issued by the Government in 2004 aimed to help the poor acquire land to improve their standard of living.
Poor households living by farming or forestry were entitled to receive either 0.5 hectares of farmland that had been cut down and burned by itinerant farmers, 0.25 hectares of mono-crop land or 0.15 hectares of multiple-crop land.
Local residents were encouraged to reclaim the land themselves and then authorised agencies would grant them government relief money and land-use rights certificates.
Since 2004, the province has reclaimed more than 408 ha of land and given it more than 1,500 families. Nearly 1,200 households have received land to build houses.
The province has also built 76 water supply systems to provide clean water for 4,467 households.
Following three years of land reclamation, Kon Plong District, which originally had 1,172 households without land, some 248 ha of land has been handed over for farming use. Financial support worth a total of VND1.45 billion was given to families.
For localities without an abundance of virgin land, provinces encouraged some households to donate land to others who needed it. More farmers in Dac Ha District were able to do this than in any other area.
Provincial authorities also examined inefficiently operated state-owned farms and asked them to hand over barren land to localities to provide to landless farmers.
Despite successful efforts in land reclamation, Kon Tum Province still needs more than 800 ha of land for more than 1,600 households.
The province has directed localities to help these landless farmers shift to work in breeding and handicraft production so they can earn a decent living.— VNS
By : http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn
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Tags: Barren Land, Central Highlands, Crop Land, Dac, Ethnic Minorities, Farmland, Government Land, Government Relief, Hectares, Land Reclamation, Localities, Minority Groups, Pepper Plants, Poor Households, Provincial Authorities, Relief Money, Tribal Girl, Virgin Land, Vns Photo, Water Supply Systems