New life in Tan Lac district

9/15/2017 - 10:19:20 AM

(HBO) – Away from the urban hustle, Tan Lac district in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh is still moving forwards on the path of reform and development. That is my own thought about the land and Muong ethnic minority people here.

A road in Chieng village, Lo Son commune - one of the poorest communes of Tan Lac district - has been concreted to meet people's travel need.

The though came to me when I returned to Dich Giao, the first in Tan Lac district recognised as a new-style rural commune, travelling on wide rural roads and crossing new schools with full of students’ laughter.

Dich Giao was previously known as a commune with low living conditions. Local people’s per capita income was around 12 million VND and poor families accounted for 26 percent of the total households in 2011.

How could such a poor commune earn new-style rural area status four years later? Chairman of the People’s Committee Bui Van Dinh said the determination and consensus of the commune’s Party Organization, administration and people were the impetus behind the success.

Residents in Dich Giao donated more than 50,000 sqm of land for new-style rural projects as they were well aware that the new-style rural building would lay a foundation for socio-economic development and improving their living standards. They did not wait for support from the government but playing an active role in the work.

The commune has set targets of maintaining and improving 19 national requirements for a new-style rural area between 2016 and 2020; increasing per capita income to 44.2 million VND; reducing the poverty rate to 2 percent; raising the rate of trained workers to 55 percent; having 90 percent of its population covered by health insurance and all households get access to clean water.

Meanwhile, Quyet Chien commune is home to 360 households with over 1,640 residents but it has only 372 hectares of farming land, including 90 hectares of rice and over 150 hectares of maize. Most of its people are living in difficult circumstances.

The commune has taken advantages of its advantages in terms of soil and climate to grow chayote for sale, thus help local famers improve their living conditions.

With assistance from the Good Neighbours International (GNI) of the Republic of Korea, in August last year, local farmers zoned off 2,200 sq.m for growing clean vegetables and fruits. The success of the project has encouraged the commune to come up with a long-term project for off-season vegetable production by 2020. It will be a new opportunity for Quyet Chien to develop clean agriculture and improve incomes for local people.

Vice Chairman of the district’s People’s Committee Bui Van Nho said the living conditions of people in 23 communes and towns of the district may still vary but they have been improved remarkably.

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