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The region currently accounts for a major proportion of world trade in a number of
agricultural commodities, including, oil palm (Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Papua
New Guinea and Solomon Islands), rubber (Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) and
rice (Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines). Countries with a strong positive balance of
trade in agricultural products include Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, while China,
Republic of Korea, Korea DPR and the Philippines have a strong negative balance
of trade. Market liberalisation is expected to encourage farm diversification -
production and trade of higher-value products - in all farming systems. Growing
urban markets and higher per capita incomes will lead to increased internal trade in
most countries, with urban and peri-urban agriculture expected to expand and
intensify to meet the increasing demand for vegetables and fruits and meat and
dairy products.
Most countries, usually through donor assisted projects, have introduced changes
to strengthen their agricultural extension and research systems. While the
knowledge, skills and capacity of these services have been upgraded, there is still a
need for further strengthening. Whilst the degree of importance given by
governments to the protection and management of natural resources (land, water,
flora and fauna) and the environment has increased, there is still a need for further
upgrading of government institutions concerned with natural resource policy,
planning and management. There also needs to be a closer linkage between
government agencies concerned with agricultural production and natural resources
management.
However, the improvements and benefits are unevenly distributed over the
landscape, across different sectors and during the year. Urban areas and
commune centres are typically targeted for infrastructure development and
investment, as are the coastal regions. During the 1996-2000 period, Da
Nang (10.33%) and Gia Lai (12.65%) provinces experienced the highest
economic growth; and in 1999, Da Nang and Binh Dinh provinces had the
highest Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in the region. Whilst
the agro-forestry sector declines in the region, the industry-construction
sector is experiencing the highest growth rate of all sectors in all provinces
except one. Eighty percent of the population derive their income from the
agro-forestry sector, which collectively accounts for over 60% of the land
area.
Conversely, many of those living in remote, mountainous areas -
predominantly ethnic minorities -remain isolated and live in substandard
conditions due to a combination of factors related to thedifficult terrain in
which they live and to the focus of development in urban and commune
centres:
- inaccessible and/or untarred roads (particularly in Quang Nam province);
- lack of access to clean and centralized water supplies;
- lack of access to major electricity suppliers;
- low communications capacity (2.2 of 100 people have telephones) and
minimal interpersonal contact.
As such, access to adequate health care, health and education facilities, and
maintainance of language skills (i.e. Vietnamese) are issues of concern,
among others. The risk of contracting diseases such as dysentry and
tuberculosis are high in many regions, and malaria regularly plagues people
living in mountainous areas.
As a whole, the region remains the poorest in Vietnam, with nearly all
provinces on the national poverty list. Notably, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai and
Kon Tum have the highest poverty rate, which peaks at nearly 30%. This
doubles in the mountainous regions; in Kon Tum, the vast majority of peoples
living in poverty and starvation are ethnic minorities. Those experiencing
positive change over time live close
to roads or in town peripheries, and are involved in non-agricultural sectors,
such as local government
staff, civil servants and teachers.
135
Besides the advantages, there are disadvantages to the socio-
economic development process in this region. The Central Truong Son
Landscape still is evaluated as the poorest region of the country. There
are 234 communes in extreme difficulty in the region, from a total of
2,325 communes that benefited from the National Programme 135,
accounting for 11.62% 2.
Infrastruture
2.2.6 Education 15
In recent years, education in the region has improved. This is shown by
more and more schools, classes and pupils. Most communes have
schools and classes, with different subjects and materials. The quality
of teaching and learning has also improved, for example some schools
have applied to teach bilateral languages (Vietnamese and ethnic
dialects) for the ethnic minority pupils.
In the eight provinces, the number of junior pupils has increased faster
than the in higher grades. This trend can be viewed in two ways; one is
that this reflects the appropriate population growth in recent years.
The other view is that the investment into education has been very
beneficial to the ethnic minorities in terms of attending school, but
most only attend the first three years at primary level, fewer ethnic
minority students continue into higher education. Kindergartens have
not been built in the remote communes, which have a negative impact
on primary education. This has knock-on effects on the quality of
education and training the basic human resources necessary for socio-
economic development.
Due to various reasons such as slash and burn cultivation, war and
illegal exploitation, the environment in some regions has been
seriously degraded. This in turns causes floods, landslides, soil erosion,
water shortages and infertile soil. Land area used for cultivation has
increased in many areas of the Central Highlands. Annually, about
122,820 ha of forest area are lost, mostly in mountainous areas.
Therefore, there must be a considerable amount of deforested land in
this area, partly because of the ethnic people’s cultivation, partly
because of illegal logging and forest destruction to increase the land
area for growing coffee, pepper and fruit trees.
The population growth rate has put a great deal of pressure on the
environment and the land, especially the forests. As well as the high
natural growth rate among ethnic minority groups such as the Ba Na
(3.9%) and Gie Trieng (3.9%)36, the effect caused by the mechanical
growth rate should not be ignored.
The Truong Son region and Central Highlands have become the
“promised land” for thousands of people. Those who are well enough
off purchase land for growing commercial crops. The poor households
(both from the north and south) move here to make living. This has led
to the use of the slash and burn method, land trading and forest
destruction. It is not only the newcomers, but the inhabitants that have
lived here for many generations, that are being pushed into this cycle.
3.8.4 Infrastructure
Due to the isolated terrain and poor infrastructure capacity, roads for
transportation have not been built in many communes, let alone at the
village level. This is partly due to the fact that an administrative unit in
the mountainous areas is often much bigger than that in the coastal
plain areas. The national electricity network has reached the provinces,
districts and some communal centers; however, up to 70% ~ 75% of
the population do not have access to it.
As they live in isolation, the Central Truong Son ethnic minority people
have retained their own cultural identity and traditions. Integrating and
accepting modern development (as in lowland culture/the majority
people’s culture) is difficult for them due to the barriers created by
different languages, lifestyle, customs, and cultivation methods.