§µo Huy Quý

 It is bordered in the east by Th¸i B×nh Province, in the west by Ninh B×nh Province, in the north by Hà Nam Province and, in the south by the B¾c Bé Gulf.

Table 1. Result of employment - occupation investigation in 1997 - 2000

* In occupation structure, the work force in agriculture and countryside has a high percentage of 67.9 % (1997) to 63.5 % (2000); while the percentage of work force in industry and service is 32.1 % (1997) to 36.5 % (2000).

Households with rural occupations: 446,766 units,

Among which:

- Households with agricultural manufacture: 371,011 units, occupying 83.04%.

- Households with aquacultural manufacture: 2,397 units, occupying 0.53 %.

- Households with craft manufacture: 23,956 units, occupying 536 %.

Note: The number of agricultural households in Nam §Þnh is high (83.04%) compared to other provinces in the Red River Delta (78.3%), Th¸i B×nh (80.0 %), Hà Nam (81.2 %).

The general aim for the development of Nam §Þnh is promoting and utilizing effectively the dynamic of development, hastening the causes of industrialization and modernization with the priority given to industrializing and modernizing agriculture and countryside...

In order to realize this aim, Nam §Þnh has been forming three areas of economic development:

The coastal economic region of Nam §Þnh Province includes the whole land area lying along the open sea of the three districts Giao Thuû, H¶i HËu and NghÜa H­ng. This area occupies 749.2 km² with 76 communes and 6 townlets (among them 21 communes and 1 townlet are bordered by the sea). The water territory of Nam §Þnh, located at the center of H¹ Long Bay’s west shore, is large with 72 km in length. There are three big estuaries (Ba L¹t estuary of the Red River, L¹ch Giang estuary of the Ninh C¬ River and §¸y estuary of the §¸y River). The salt-marsh alluvial area is 22,500 ha; an area of 8,500 ha has been delineated for aquacultural constructions.

- Favourable for developing raising, fishing and producing the seafood source, salt producing, agri-silviculture, traffic and transport, tourism and services.

- Underground water in Nam §Þnh’s territory: preserved lenses of water, which are now being exploited by the inhabitants for living requirements and by a lot of economic organizations for production requirements. Many other territories are destitute of this resource.

- The northern coastline in general and the coastline of Nam §Þnh province in particular is mostly low-lying land that has been dammed a long time ago; there are a lot of implicit dangers.

- Due to the geographical conditions, neotectonics and the hydrodynamic elements, the coast of H¶i HËu is eroded at the average rate of 20.1 m/year, the eroded area is 25 ha/year (National Project of H¶i Phßng Subinstitute of Oceanography, NCST).

- There is no detailed and scientific project for aquaculture; no solution of environmental protection for each region; chemicals and plant protection reagents have a bad impact on environment.

- The source of groundwater has not been completely studied for designing the reasonable use. On the other hand, on the coastal area of the three districts H¶i HËu Giao Thuû, NghÜa H­ng, there are 34,163 drilled wells, which is an issue that needs solution.

- This region was formed in the process of the accumulation of the Red River system in many centuries, so it has the potential of cultivating different kinds of food plants, especially cereals, vegetables and other foodstuff crops.

- Presently, manufacture is still of small-scale and self-sufficient without specialized project for manufacture sites; manufacture is not linked with processing industry in order to raise the product value and create good conditions for manufacture to develop firmly. Therefore, the solution for environment protection has to be common with united concrete guidance, coordinating closely all the involved branches.

- In agricultural manufacture, the tendency of using inorganic fertilizer and plant protection chemicals is increasing rapidly, so the land is getting less and less fertile. It becomes harder to satisfy the aim of steady agri-aquaculture development for clean and safe products without harmful chemicals.

- Nam §Þnh has more than 70 craft villages, including: mechanical manufacture, casting, dyeing, foodstuff manufacture, handicraft production... all have been polluting the water, land and air environment.

Nam §Þnh City is the centre of economic, commercial, communication and culture of the Red River Delta. Presently, the economic starting-point of Nam §Þnh Province in general, and of Nam §Þnh City in particular, is still low. The strategic aim of Nam §Þnh is turning Nam §Þnh City into a centre of industry and home craft industry development in the direction of diversifying trades; focusing on producing consumer goods such as textile industry, shoes, handicrafts, foods and drinks... in the direction of industrialization step by step. Setting up centralized industrial locations in the province (such as Hoà X¸ Industrial Park on 327 ha and Mü Trung Industrial Park on 100 ha are in construction).

In order to fulfill the above mentioned goal the traditional Nam §Þnh textile industry complex is planed to upgrade its technology and to move to the centralized industry location. Beside the textile factory complex there are 30 state owner and 116 private companies whose production activities seriously affect to the environment and ecology.

Further more Nam §Þnh is an ancient city with the typical handicraft professions distributed in certain streets, for example Cutting street, Cooper street, Iron street or Oil street...), all of them are developed without any planning for waste collection and treatment. Generally, the production in all the factories of the city is based on old technologies without facilities for solid and liquid waste treatment.

- Application of scientific technological progress in order to improve the production and service technologies toward the industrialization and modernization and higher productivity, better quality and effectiveness.

S&T activities of Nam §Þnh from 2005 to 2010 will be focused on 3 of 6 prioritized socio-economic development programs designed by the 16th Conference of the Provincial Party.

- Providing scientific bases for area planning, policy making in order to attract investment for infrastructure in aquaculture, salt production, tourism and services toward industrialization, modernization and sustainable development.

- Application and mastering aquaculture technologies for sea and brackish water.

- Establishment of rotation cycle suitable season for sea food breeds, crop and forest products suitable for each local ecological condition for higher yield and for more clean products by reducing the use of chemicals in the production.

1- Studies on non-biological sea resources and coastal environment for planning of the exploitation and sustainable utilization in coastal zones of Nam §Þnh, implemented in 2001 by Centre of Marine Geology and Mineralogy.

2- Collection of database for studies on groundwater resources of Nam §Þnh for planning of the exploitation and sustainable utilization, implemented in 2003 by Institute of Geosciences, University of Mining and Geology, Hanoi.

3- Studies on scientific backgrounds for effective and sustainable utilization of alluvial ground in NghÜa H­ng, Nam §Þnh, implemented in 2002 by Institute of Ecology and Planning of Aquaculture.

4- Studies on scientific backgrounds for effective and sustainable utilization of fields for salt and sea food production in Giao Thuû, Nam §Þnh, implemented in 2003 by Institute of Ecology and Planning of Aquaculture.

5- Studies on scientific backgrounds for effective and sustainable utilization of fields for salt and sea food production in H¶i HËu, Nam §Þnh, implemented in 2003 by Institute of Geosciences.

6- Survey study on radioactive area in the Nam §Þnh coastal zone, implemented in 2003 by Institute of Geosciences.

1. Application of multi-stage technologies, combining modern technology with traditional technology in order to develop effectively the present S&T potential of the following branches: textile, manufacture, mechanism, electricity and electronics, construction materials.

- Transferring S&T, especially post harvest technologies into the rural areas in order to providing job for local people and to modernize the production condition.

- Development of information technology, focused on administration, trade, automation, education and software designing.

- Modernization of traditional handicrafts, especially those of export items.

- Strictly implementing waste treatment solutions at familiar, collective and industrial production levels.

- Effective application of international quality management ISO 9001-2000.

1- Investment for setting up an industrial area at the western part of Nam §Þnh City with the size of 200 ha in the first phase and 327 ha in the second phase. At present, 165 investors have applied proposals, 36 have been approved by the Province People Committee. A plan of waste water treatment with the capacity of 5,000 m³/day is under construction in this industrial area.

2- Basis for a sustainable development of Nam §Þnh Province, implemented in 2000-2003 by Institute of Geosciences, Institute of Biotechnology and University of Greifswald.

3- Totally, there are 16 communes, townlets, 9 districts and the city have applied proposals for setting up industrial sites, 9 of applied proposals have been approved with an area of 125.2 ha and total investment of 143,432 billions VND (Table 2).

Table 2. New industrial area in the rural region of Nam §Þnh

- Building scientific bases for area planning of agricultural manufacture in the direction of developing commodity production, linking production with after-harvest technology and developing the processing industry.

- Improving, selecting and producing good kinds of crops and livestock corresponding to the requirements of commodity production. Top-ranking priority is given to application of biologic technology in order to create high quality and disease-free breeds.

- Building models of S&T application in intensively cultivating different kinds of crops and domestic animals that can satisfy the requirements of commodity production, processing industry development and sustainable environment.

- Building scientific bases for the consolidation and development of common and individual economy in the stage of industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas; solving the employment problem for workforce, eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty.

- Finding models of new rural areas in the direction of industrialization, modernization, co-operative and democratization.

- Finding models of S&T application to the service of transferring the structure of agricultural manufacture and rural economic, solving the employment problem for workforce, eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty.

1- S&T application in building models of intensive raising of fish in paddy in low-lying areas (fulfilled since 1998 in Vô B¶n District and presently expanded to many other regions and districts).

2- Scientific projects to solving the problem of pigs, cattle and poultry raising environmental pollution in the farming scale of households and economic organizations (fulfilled in 1998).

3- Scientific projects creating models of crop rotation in the direction of intensive cultivation (2 rice - 1 other crop, rice - other crop, rotation crops...).

4- Models of growing mulberry and breeding silkworms.

5- Studying on scientific bases for the consolidation and development of common and individual economy, in order to develop rural industry and home craft industry (implemented by the Department of Industry in 2003-2004).

6- Studying on scientific bases for the consolidation and development of agricultural co-operatives; finding models of combined family economy of production, business and services, implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2003).

Beside the above programs the S&T activities of Nam §Þnh Province even has to solve the following problems:

- Study on understanding and preservation of historical and cultural values of Nam §Þnh.

- Improvement of educational systems by application S&T progresses.

- Application of advanced equipment and methods in prentice and therapeutic medicines.

1- This paper presents the current status of S&T activities and progresses in contribution to sustainable socio-economic development and environmental protection in Nam §Þnh Province.

2- On behalf of general and of S&T managing officers, and scientific staff of Nam §Þnh I want to express our sincere thanks to scientists and specialists of the Institute of Geosciences, the Institute of Biotechnology, the Institute of Geography at NCST and the University of Mining and Geology, the University of Greifswald, Germany, who are considerably contributing to the S&T activities in order to serve the sustainable production and environmental protection in Nam §Þnh.

3- We would like also to express our wish to continue our S&T collaboration with Vietnamese and international colleagues, especially with our colleagues and friends from Germany.