Bình Phước Province

Bình Phước Province Tỉnh Bình Phước
Province
Nickname(s): Peace and Happiness
Location of Bình Phước within Vietnam
Coordinates: 11°45′N 106°55′E / 11.750°N 106.917°E / 11.750; 106.917Coordinates: 11°45′N 106°55′E / 11.750°N 106.917°E / 11.750; 106.917
Country	Vietnam
Region	Southeast
Capital	Đồng Xoài
Government
• People's Committee Chair	Truong Tan Thieu
Area
• Total	6,857.3 km2 (2,647.6 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Total	823,600
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnicities	Vietnamese, Xtiêng, Nùng, Tày, Khmer
Time zone	ICT (UTC+7)
Calling code	651
ISO 3166 code	VN-58
Website	www.binhphuoc.gov.vn

Bình Phước ( listen) is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Southeast region of the country, to the north of Hồ Chí Minh City. It shares a border with Cambodia.

History

Bình Phước Province is the result of a merger of two former provinces: Phước Long Province and Bình Long Province, which existed before reunification.^[1] Both Phước Long and Bình Long then became part of Sông Bé Province in 1976, which also included Bình Dương Province. Sông Bé Province was dissolved in 1997 and Bình Phước again became a separate province. Several significant battles were fought in what is now Bình Phước Province. These include the Battle of Sông Bé in May 1965, the Battle of Đồng Xoài in June 1965, the Battle of Loc Ninh in April 1972, and the Battle of Phước Long from December 1974 to January 1975. ^{[citation needed]}

Geography

Bình Phước Province is relatively flat with elevations of between 50m and 200m throughout most of the provinces. Elevations are gradually higher towards the east of the province and reach around 500m near parts of the border to Đắk Nông Province of the Central Highlands. The highest elevation is Ba Ra mountain (736m) in the centre of the province.^[2] There are several hills around the province with heights of up to around 200m in the west and 300m in the southeast.^[3]

Most of the rivers in the province are tributaries of the Bé River, which in turn is a tributary of the Đồng Nai River.^[2] Thác Mơ lake is a large artificial lake in the east of the province. Several rivers originating from the Central Highlands flow into it, including dak Glun, dak Nhau, dak Rlap, and dak Oa (from north to south).^[3] It is the point of origin of Bé River, which flows through much of central and western Bình Phước.

Forestry land takes up 337,000 ha or 49 per cent of the province's total area^[4] Forests are located mostly in the northeast and southeast of the province as well as along the northern border to Cambodia and the western border to Tây Ninh Province.^[2] Much of the rest of the area is used to grow perennial cash crops. The total agricultural area is 293,700 ha. There are 21,900 ha of specially used land and 5700 ha of residential land.^[4]

Economy

Bình Phước is one of the agriculturally most productive provinces of Vietnam, especially relying on cash crops such as cashew nuts, and rubber. As of 2007, its agricultural GDP per capita was 7.03 million VND, the highest in Vietnam, while industrial GDP per capita was only 1.7 million VND, making it one of the least industrialized provinces in the southern half of Vietnam. Bình Phước's GDP in 2007 was 9534.4 billion VND or 11.58 million VND per capita, which is 86 per cent of the national and significantly lower than that of the other provinces in the southeastern region. Growth in GDP has been between 14 and 15 per cent per year from 2000 to 2007. Bình Phước exported goods with a value of 325.5 million US$ in 2007, far exceeding its imports of 57.4 million. Since 2000, exports have increased almost sevenfold while imports increased almost tenfold. Main export products include rubber latex, shelled cashew nuts and pepper.^[4]

Ownership structure

The state sector accounts for 41.5 per cent of GDP of 2007, an increase from the 29.5 per cent of 2000 but somewhat lower than 2006, when its share peaked at 45.9 per cent. At the same time, the household sector has seen its share being reduced from 61.1 per cent in 2000 to 49.2 per cent in 2007, but it is still the largest ownership sector in Bình Phước. The private sector is still very small at only 7.7 per cent of GDP. There has been very little foreign investment, so that this sectors contributes only 1.4 per cent to the province's GDP.^[4]

Agriculture

Agriculture in Bình Phước is dominated by perennial crops, mainly cashew nuts, rubber, coffee, and pepper. 4333 of the 4458 farms in 2007 were perennial crop farms. Production of cereals is much less significant and accounts only for a small part of agricultural area and output. 34,200 tons of rice and 19.7 tons of maize were harvested in 2007, accounting for only 0.1 and 0.5 per cent of the national output. Sweet potatoes and cassava are also grown in Bình Phước. The most important cash crop is cashew nuts. 156,377 tons of cashew nuts were harvested in 2007, accounting for 51.8 per cent of the national output. This is a significant increase from 110,000 tons in 2006 and just 19,000 tons in 2000.^[4] Cashew nuts are grown mostly in the east and south of the province, roughly along (north and west of) National Road 14.^[2] Cashew nuts are an important export product for Bình Phước as well as Vietnam in general. Exports in 2010 are expected to reach 1 billion USD, while there are also increasing imports of raw cashew nuts because processing capacity by now significantly exceeds the quantity grown in Vietnam^[5]

Another important crop is rubber, with 147,520 tons produced in 2007. This accounts for 24.5 per cent of the national output and has more than doubled since 2000 (67,000 tons).^[4] Rubber is mostly produced in the north and west of the province, along the Bé River and National Road 13.^[2] Bình Phước's pepper production also accounts for significant share of national output (24 per cent). Production has more than doubled to 21,736 between 2000 and 2007.^[4] Pepper is grown in the southwest of the province in the districts of Bình Long and Chơn Thành, between National Road 13 and the Bé River.^[2]

Coffee is grown in the northeast of the province, north of Thác Mơ Lake.^[2] 56,148 tons of coffee were harvested in 2007, accounting for 5.8 per cent of the national output.^[4] Other crops include coconuts (877 tons in 2007), sugar cane (28,800 tons), peanuts (800 tons) and cotton (500 tons).

Industry

Industry and construction contribute only 14.7 per cent to the province's GDP as of 2007. However, it has contributed significantly to recent economic growth. While the large agricultural sector has been growing by around 10 per cent from 2005 to 2007, the growth of industry and construction was 35.8, 25.9, and 21.6 per cent in these three years.^[4]

Many of the industries are based on agricultural products or raw materials. Food processing industries include the production of shelled cashew nuts (29,200 tons) and cassava starch (78,100 tons). There is also an industry producing hand farming tools. Other industries include construction materials (stones and bricks) and forest product processing (saw wood and paper).^[4]

Administration

Politically, Bình Phước is divided into seven districts:

• Bù Đăng
• Bù Đốp
• Bù Gia Mập
• Chơn Thành
• Đồng Phú
• Hớn Quản
• Lộc Ninh

Đồng Xoài, Bình Long and Phước Long are municipalities.

Transportation

In September 2007, moves were made to consider construction of a section of the proposed Trans-Asian Railway from Dĩ An on the main north-south line to Lộc Ninh near the Cambodian border.

Demography

Bình Phước's population in 2007 was 823,600. This is a significant increase from 684,600 in 2000. In contrast to many other provinces, much of this growth has taken place in rural areas, where population increased by 118,500 compared to 20,500 in urban areas. Bình Phước is a predominantly rural province, with only 15.4 per cent of the population living in towns. The population has grown by 16.5 per cent between 2000 and 2005, but has since slowed down to 2.23 per cent in 2006 and 1 per cent in 2007.^[4]

Besides the majority Vietnamese, there are minorities of Xtiêng, Nùng, Tày, and Khmer. Ethnic minorities are present throughout the province.^[2]

References

	Kratié Province,  Cambodia Tbong Khmum Province,  Cambodia	Mondulkiri Province,  Cambodia	Đắk Nông Province
	Tây Ninh Province		Lâm Đồng Province
	Bình Phước Province
	Bình Dương Province		Đồng Nai Province