12 of Nam Dinh province’s 96 communes have already completed all 19 criteria of the national new rural development program. Letting the people play the key role with support from the government, Nam Dinh province has mobilized the people to donate land for roads and social welfare works. Pham Van Ngo of Truc Ninh district donated 125,000 USD to build schools, roads, and repair the local cemeteries. Ngo said: "I’m very willing to donate as we want our children to have good places to study to ensure a brighter future. Nicely restored pagodas and temples, and properly built cemeteries add beauty to our environment."

A major criterion of the national new rural development program is upgrading the rural road system. Wider paved roads facilitate travel for local people and help them move modern machines and equipment to the fields to apply advanced technology to the farm work. Acknowledging the importance of this, the local people have voluntarily donated their land to the program. Nguyen Van Tao of Truc Chinh district’s An Lang hamlet contributed nearly 900 square meters of his farm to make roads. He said: "My donation began with the simple thought that, as a citizen, I should be responsible to the community I’m living in. Moreover, I will also benefit from what I’ve contributed in the long run."


Nam Dinh provincial authorities have paid attention to economic restructuring to help local people escape poverty and increase their incomes. The development of horticulture in Tien Phong hamlet, Nam My commune, Nam Truc district is a good example. Nguyen Tien Truc, Head of Tien Phong 2 hamlet, Nam Truc commune, says about 90% of the local households are involved in horticulture, which earns them 10 times as much as ordinary farm work. Truc says local living conditions have improved a lot over the past decade and the percentage of poor households has fallen to 5%: "The trade of growing flowers, peach trees, and ornamental trees for sale is the best way at the moment for us to escape poverty and develop the local economy. Rice farms currently occupy 2 thirds of local farm land and we are planning to reserve more land for horticulture."

Nguyen Van Tuan, Chairman of the Nam Dinh provincial People’s Committee, said the province considers the rezoning of fields to be key factor in new rural development to boost productivity. Tuan said: "In addition to upgrading the local infrastructure, new rural development also means improving production to create better living conditions for local people. This builds trust among people, which makes it easier to mobilize their contributions to new rural development programs. This is a long-term process which cannot be done overnight and we are taking it one step at a time."

Nam Dinh province has set a target of having 100% of local communes complete the national new rural development program by 2015.