The people in Chieng Chau commune (Mai Chau) have increased their income from the traditional brocade weaving.

Arriving at Hang Kia and Pa Co recently, I clearly felt the positive changes brought about by the National Target Program for building new rủal areas. The winding and rocky dirt roads of the past have now been replaced by wide and airy concrete roads. Schools, clinics, community learning centers have been spaciously built. The lives of the people here are increasingly changing. In the past few years, Hang Kia commune has been known by tourists from near and far as an ideal place to experience and hunt clouds during holidays and weekends.

Mr. Kha A Vau, the Chairman of Hang Kia People's Committee, says: "Thanks to the attention of the district and province along with other departments and branches, Hang Kia has been transformed, the people have a more fulfilling and peaceful life. In addition, the people also receive vocational training, training in scientific and technical knowledge, being supported for plant varieties, livestock and community tourism development. Many customs in weddings and funerals are gradually eliminated, all thanks to the program of building new rural areas.”

Besides, Mai Chau district has a number of effective production models such as growing peanuts, watermelon, bitter melon, cucumbers…, raising native black pigs... The district has been paying attention to allocating the support capital developing production and building OCOP products of blue-necked ducks and Muong Pa black pigs; Building a collective brand for Mai Chau rice, developing Thanh Son garlic products...

With the spirit of overcoming difficulties, there are 7 communes that meet the standards of the new rural area. On average, 16.33 criteria/commune were achieved, with no communes achieving less than 12 criteria. This is an important premise for the district to set a goal in 2023, to consolidate and maintain the achieved criteria, in which 8 communes tried to achieve 1-2 more criteria; There is 1 more commune meeting the standards of the new rural area. For the 7 communes that have reached "the finish line”, it is suggested trying to have 1 commune achieving the advanced rural area.

Mr. Pham Van Hoan, the Chairman of the District’s People's Committee says: The criteria set out according to the National Criteria for building new rural areas are very high compared to the starting point of the district, especially the set of criteria for building a model rural commune. Besides, the local budget revenue is limited, while the need for the resources to implement the program is great... These are some of the difficulties that are easy to see when we embark on implementing the program of building the new rural area in 2023. Faced with that challenge, the district held a meeting of the Steering Committee of new rural area, assigning the specific tasks to each member, focusing on removing the obstacles and the existing problems in implementing criteria considered to be "difficult” for the locality. At the same time, the district has focused on propagandizing and capturing aspirations, thereby the consensus among the people has been created.

And in fact, in 2023 the district achieved the remarkable results. The entire district mobilized 349,070 billion VND to invest in building the new rural area, of which the people voluntarily contributed over 6.7 billion VND. Currently, 15 out of the 15 communes have wide and beautiful motorways to the commune center. The village roads have been hardened and graded at over 83%, the clean and not-muddy alley roads in the rainy season have reached over 69%, the percentage of in-field main roads ensuring the convenient transportation of goods all year round is over 40%. So far, the district has 9 communes meeting traffic standards (60%) including Tong Dau, Chieng Chau, Mai Ha, Van Mai, Mai Hich, Tam Khoe, Bao La, Pa Co, Hang Kia. The percentage of the irrigated agricultural land in the district is over 90%. The basic electrical system meets the daily needs of the people as well as production. 100% of the communes meet electricity criteria, the rate of the household using electricity reaches 99.8%. The district invests heavily in school facilities every year, basically meeting the needs of teaching and learning. The district has 7 communes achieving 12-15 criteria; By the end of 2023, there were 8 communes that achieved 19 out of the 19 criteria (of which 7 communes have been recognized to reach the finish line).

However, the story of "meeting the criteria of the new rural area, however, it is not necessarily able to consolidate and maintain” has been repeated. As an area being determined to reach the finish line in 2023, the Party Committee, the authorities and the People of Na Phon commune was determined and unanimous in perfecting the criteria. However, there was an incident of violating security and order in the area. Besides, with the new set of criteria, Tong Dau did not meet the income criteria. The communes had to "miss the appointment” with the goal of reaching the finish line of the new rural area and advanced new rural area.

The Chairman of the District’s People's Committee adds: With constant efforts, the district is continuing to focus on allocating the additional funding for the infrastructure investment, creating conditions for the communes to access many sources of the support capital to complete the plan for building the new rural area according to the plan assigned by the province. At the same time, we will continue to pay attention and coordinate with the appropriate departments and branches to support the communes trying to achieve standards of the new and advanced rural areas, and the new rural model in the pẻiod of 2021-2025 to promote rural appearance increasingly develop.