Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng delivers speech at a meeting with provincial officials of  southernmost province of Cà Mau yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

CÀ MAU — The southernmost province of Cà Mau should develop agriculture, forestry and fisheries with a focus on shrimp farming and processing, and sea- and forest-based economic activities, Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng said yesterday at a meeting with provincial officials.

Two decades since the province’s re-establishment, Cà Mau has made encouraging strides in renovating its urban and rural areas and the road system, building schools and clinics, achieving a sharp drop in the poverty rate and increasing budget collection.

However, the province is still facing an array of challenges as a result of poor transport infrastructure, heavy climate change impact, freshwater shortage, serious coastal erosion, and limited capital sources.

The Party leader asked Cà Mau officials to capitalise on the province’s advantages, including fertile soil and a climate with wet and dry seasons, which are favourable for agriculture, forestry and aquaculture.

In the short term, Cà Mau should apply itself to developing sea-based economic activities, including offshore fishing which needs to be associated with the defence of national sovereignty. It also needs to develop wind and solar power while stepping up environmental protection, afforestation, and climate change response, he said. 

To ensure resources for development, he told provincial authorities to encourage the participation of residents, businesses and the political system, and make use of assistance from ministries and central agencies. 

These should provide favourable mechanisms, policies and conditions for attracting development resources, improving civil servants’ capacity, and enhancing manpower training, the Party General Secretary noted. 

Local officials reported that in 2016, the prolonged drought and saltwater intrusion greatly affected production activities and people’s lives in Cà Mau. However, authorities and residents made efforts to overcome those difficulties and realise 16 of the 20 set targets. 

The aquaculture area expanded to more than 300,000ha, including over 278,000ha of shrimp farming. The total aquatic output surpassed 490,000 tonnes. The areas of harvested summer-autumn rice, sugar cane and crops, along with the numbers of farmed livestock and poultry, increased in 2016. The rate of low-income households according to the multidimensional poverty approach dropped to 7.96 per cent. 

On this occasion, General Secretary Trọng offered incense and planted a tree at a commemorative site dedicated to late President Hồ Chí Minh in Cà Mau.  — VNS