Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Developing Village Index (IDM), which is a portrait of rural development, has shown a significant increase in South Kalimantan in the last four years from 2016 to 2020.
Head of South Kalimantan Community and Village Empowerment Agency Zulkipli in Banjarbaru on Thursday said that the province currently has six villages categorized as independent villages.
"IDM with an assessment of 54 indicators shows quite encouraging results that (this year) we have six independent villages," he said.
The increase in the number of independent villages, he pointed out, proved the progress of development in rural areas thanks to the synergy of the central government, provincial government, and districts/cities government throughout South Kalimantan.
The central and provincial governments, he said, focus on rural development, among others through disbursing village funds from the state budget and accompanying fund from the provincial budget.
The progress of development in villages in not only seen from the increase in independent villages, but also in the number of develop villages and developing villages as well as the decrease in the number of underdeveloped and very underdeveloped villages.
The impact can be seen in the decline in poverty in the province. "At present the poverty rate in South Kalimantan is in the third lowest position nationally, behind DKI Jakarta and Bali," he said.
In 2016, South Kalimantan has only one independent village, namely in Tanah Bumbu District, then increasing to six in 2020 scattered in the districts of Tanah Laut two, Kotabaru three, and one in Barito Kuala.
While, the number of developed villages in 2016 only 16 then it became 184 in 2020 spread over 11 districts.
Then developing villages also increased from 409 in 2016 to 1,437 villages in 2020.
In 2016 the number of underdeveloped villages in South Kalimantan was recorded at 1,184 and decreased to 223 villages in 2020.
Likewise the very underdeveloped villages has decreased from 254 in 2016 to 13 villages in 2020.
The IDM has been developed by the Ministry of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration since 2015 using the social, economic, and the resilient of ecology/environmental index.
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