Many midland and mountainous areas still have great agricultural potentials and have not been effectively exploited.

On the occasion of the New Year, General Secretary To Lam said: “We have gathered all the conditions and are facing a historic opportunity to bring the country into a new era, an era of national growth, an era of development, prosperity and strength…”.

He affirmed that “The destination of the era of national growth is prosperous people, a strong country, and a fair, democratic, and civilized society”.

To achieve the goal set out by General Secretary To Lam, it is thought that people in rural areas must also have great determination with clear changes. Currently, the most difficult areas of the country are almost all in rural areas. Especially, mountainous areas, ethnic minority areas, drought and salinity areas or desertification areas are the most difficult ones. How can people here quickly eradicate poverty and get the opportunity to become rich? This should be considered an urgent task that must be done immediately with specific results. It’s better not shout slogans and speak generally without actions.

It is a very difficult task to raise these areas. For a long time, we have had many projects for these areas but the results have not been good as expected. The State has invested a lot but the returns have not been desired. It is common that after a close of a project, everything is reverted to the old ways.

The Government's budget for these difficult areas is often spread out across many agencies, ministries, sectors and organizations... In reality, the reports are often well written but the people have not changed much.

We hope that the Party and the Government will assign a Politburo member or Party Central Committee Secretary to be in charge of helping these disadvantaged areas develop. The assigned person is empowered to decide what needs to be done, to mobilize necessary resources, and has a special mechanism to carry out important tasks...

In order for the country to thrive as General Secretary To Lam suggested, it is necessary to quickly implement directions for the undeveloped areas. We have mobilized many scientists in the country to participate in writing the book series “1001 ways to do business” to serve farmers. Each book will teach farmers a profession. Those professions will quickly help farmers to be enriched…

In the mountainous areas of the Northwest, Viet Bac and Central Highlands, we have introduced many crops and livestock that can help people get rich. Rubber, coffee, cashew, pepper, etc. are all growing strongly. Raising buffalo, white horses, dairy cows, beef cattle, goats, sheeps, rabbits, ostriches, etc. is being carried out in many places, gaining positive results.

Large timber forests are being developed. In particular, a series of multi-purpose forestry species are also being developed more and more widely, such as anise, sandalwood, doi, chestnut, canarium, dracontomelon… and especially macadamia.

Over the past 10 years, we have planted over 22,000 hectares of macadamia. Many types of fruit trees are also growing, contributing greatly to people's income such as longan, lychee, mango, orange, lemon, tangerine, pomelo, custard apple, mangosteen... and especially durian. The mountainous areas can absolutely grow, even surpass the lowlands if we organize well the production and consumption of agricultural products. Not to mention medicinal plants, Vietnam owns a huge medicinal resource.

In the plains, especially in the Southwest, people can apply a series of jobs that can achieve high income. In addition to shrimp and fish that we are organizing production very well, there are many species that people can make a fortune by raising such as snails, water bugs, elephant snakes, eels in mud-free tanks... In coastal areas, we should raise seaweed, algae, abalone, sea worms, crabs... Many families get wealthy thanks to raising these animals.

One of the most difficult areas in our country is probably the Central region, which is being desertified (Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan and some places in Khanh Hoa). There is only sand and hot sun. However, recently, some places have successfully planted asparagus, grapevines, apple trees and aloe vera, with very good results. However, that is only on a small area.

We recommend introducing drought-resistant neem trees to cover the entire desertified area. This is a species with deep roots (up to 20m in some places). It can grow in this hot sand area. The drought-resistant neem tree has leaves and fruits identical to those in Vietnam. However, their leaves are thicker and the number of fruits is greater. In particular, their trunks are very large, especially some trees have trunk diameters of up to 70 - 80cm.

 According to scientists, in the seeds and leaves of the drought-resistant neem tree there is a substance that can repel or kill insects. In India, there are up to 4 factories that extract this substance from the drought-resistant neem tree to produce pesticides. Obviously, this is a great signal for us. Why not cover all the deserted areas with drought-resistant neem trees. If we plant them, we will restore the green color, retain water for the soil, create a landscape, bring birds and animals back and also help the people have a large source of income from selling products to the pesticide processing factory. Local engineers also told us that the leaves of the drought-resistant neem tree can be used as food for goats in this area because they do not get drunk when eating. Obviously, the drought-resistant neem tree will helps the mountain people to change their lives.

It is believed that in the most difficult areas of our country, people still have many ways to succeed.