Thinh made the statement at a conference held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Hanoi on November 23 to review the two-year implementation of the Government’s Decree No. 52/2018/ND-CP on the development of rural trades.
The total number of workers in this area has climbed to more than 2.3 million, 300,000 more than the 2017 figure (up 15%), he said.
Thinh stated that the total revenue from activities of rural trades has reached VND236.2 trillion (US$10.14 billion), up 20.5% or VND40 trillion compared to 2017, with the industries of pottery, rattan, glass, textile, fibre, embroidery, knitting, small-scale mechanics, and sculpture registering the highest value.
In the time ahead, the MARD will continue to review and evaluate the reality of rural trades and craft villages to complete the development of a project on the conservation and development of craft villages in the 2021-2025 period and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.
According to the ministry, localities need to review land and shift crops to develop stable concentrated material areas, while accelerating the application of science and technology in production to improve productivity, quality and diversification.
In addition, trade promotion should be promoted for products of rural industries and craft villages under the national trade promotion programme, the trade-tourism promotion programmes of localities and the ‘One Commune One Product (OCOP)’ programme.
