Not only do the richer provinces, with high economic growth rates, continue to ask for rice donations from the government, many families also refuse to be removed from the list of the poor.
'Rich' provinces ask for government rice donations
Among 15 provinces that appealed to the government for around 20,000 tonnes of rice to give to households in need of national aid and those seriously struggling in the wake of natural disasters during Tet, there are some provinces, considered relatively rich, such as Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen.
Khanh Hoa Province asked for 550 tonnes of rice, even though the province's GDP increased 8.3% against 2012 and the budget revenue in 2013 was over VND11.3 trillion (USD542 million). Nguyen Huu Thau, head of the local Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said, "It's difficult to collect the province budget this year, so we need governmental support for families in hunger. We intend to give the poor families VND250,000 instead of providing rice."
Meanwhile, Phu Yen, sometimes called the rice bowl of Central Vietnam, where rice productivity reached 6.75 tonnes per hectare and economic growth reached 10.6% in 2013, said that they are in need of 761 tonnes of rice.
Nguyen Manh Hung, Vice Chairman of NA’s Social Affairs Committee, said people are heavily dependent on support programmes and will react strongly if they are stripped off the "poor" status.
According to the Minister of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs, Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, since 1993 the poverty rate was reduced from 58% to 7.8%, and 50% of those are in mountainous and remote areas. At the same, the rate of poor families in cities is also on the rise during these tough economic times.
Despite the efforts to reduce poverty, many families will slip into this category. Chuyen went on to say that they plan to revise and reduce 16 welfare programmes down to two or four by 2015.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, since 2003 Vietnam has no longer classified as one of the least developed countries. However, at the Asian Development Bank annual meeting, a Vietnamese leader said despite some of the achievements, Vietnam is still a poor country and in need of help from international community.
