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| Weaving workshops help impoverished households in Soc Trang improve their incomes and stabilize their lives. (Source: VNA) |
Poverty reduction efforts in Soc Trang have shown positive progress in 2024. My Xuyen District, home to a large Khmer population comprising over 33% of its residents, has made significant strides. At the start of the 2020-2025 term, the district's poverty rate was nearly 5%, but it has now decreased to under 1% of the district's population.
Pham Minh Hue, Chairman of the People’s Committee of My Xuyen District, shared that the district has incorporated economic and social development for ethnic minorities, new rural development, and sustainable poverty reduction into its party resolutions. It has also integrated three national target programs into poverty reduction efforts, prioritizing the development of the economy and society in areas with ethnic minorities, especially for poor and near-poor households, as well as particularly challenging hamlets. Key initiatives include providing support for cattle farming, housing, residential land, production materials and clean water.
As a result, the poverty rate has steadily declined each year. Currently, the district has 298 poor households (0.73%) and 919 near-poor households (2.24%), including 1.2% Khmer poor households and 2% Khmer near-poor households, reflecting a 6.76% reduction compared to 2021. The average per capita income in My Xuyen has reached VND75.3 million per year, an increase of VND25.3 million compared to 2021, making it one of the districts with the fastest poverty reduction and the lowest poverty rate in Soc Trang.
One notable poverty reduction initiative in My Xuyen is vocational training in weaving, which provides idle households with additional income. Tran Vuol, a resident of Tham Don Commune, shared that her family previously relied on vegetable farming to support her two children’s education, but life was challenging. After participating in a weaving workshop, her family gained an additional monthly income of nearly VND4 million from making handicrafts. Combined with her husband’s salary, their family now earns over VND10 million per month, enabling them to save for a new house and afford better education for their children.
Nearby, Son Thi Suong, aged 63, also joined the weaving workshop. She no longer has the strength to work in the fields, but weaving provides her with a monthly income of about VND4 million, covering daily expenses like utilities and food. She expressed gratitude to local authorities for organizing these workshops, which have created jobs for hundreds of women, the elderly, and idle laborers, improving their incomes and lives.
Dang Thanh Quang, Director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Soc Trang, stated that at the beginning of the year, the department advised the provincial People’s Committee to implement central government directives for the National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction. With a budget of over VND114 billion and the efforts of poor and near-poor households, the province now has 4,484 poor households (1.34%), a reduction of 4,042 households compared to 2023, and 17,084 near-poor households (5.10%), a decrease of 4,569 households from the previous year.
In 2025, the department aims to continue advising the provincial government on maximizing resources for poverty reduction, replicating effective models, promoting vocational training, and providing rural employment opportunities. Specific goals include increasing the proportion of trained workers to 76.5%, certified workers to 45.9%, and the workforce participation rate to 84.5% of the working-age population. Additionally, the province targets an average annual poverty rate reduction of 0.1%, with a 0.2% reduction among Khmer households./.