HBO – Developing the economy and increasing locals’ income are always considered a core target and a level for other criteria in the new-style rural area building programme at Thuong Bi commune in Kim Boi district.

The
red pomelo orchard of Bui Van Nghich’s family in Ngheo village enters harvest
time.
Over the past years, Thuong Bi commune has carried out the
shifting of the structure of crops in a serious and thorough manner to create
more jobs for locals, help them increase income and stabilise their lives, and
gradually reduce the number of poor households. Land areas where rice
cultivation produces low yield have been used to grow new kinds of plants which
produce high economic values such as green-skin pomelo, Tan Lac red pomelo or
longan. Many households have initially earned high income from fruit trees, for
example the red pomelo orchards of Bui Van Be and Bui Van Nghich in Ngheo
village.
As of September 2018, the commune had more than 40 hectares of
fruit trees with high productivity, up 10 hectares from the same period in 2017,
of which 29 hectares were in harvest time.
To create a consensus in new-style rural area building, the
locality’s Party committee and authorities have directed local mass
organisations to intensify disseminations to make locals understand more about
the work’s purpose and significance as well as their benefits and
responsibility.
In addition, the commune has appointed officials to each village
to select work items that suit the local conditions and residents’ wish to be
implemented first, while promoting the role of setting example of officials and
Party members in contributing money, materials, land and working days to the
new-style rural area building.
The commune has effectively carried out assistance policies and
mechanisms of the Party, Government and the province to build new-style rural
infrastructure projects. Since 2016, Thuong Bi has built more than 2km of
concrete roads, and over 1.4km of intra-field canals. The local community contributed
to the work nearly 300 million VND worth of cash, land, construction materials
and working days.
With joint efforts of the Party organisation, authorities and
people, as of late September, the commune’s per capita income averaged 14
million VND a year and the poverty rate reduced to 22 percent, while 76 percent
of local households had standard homes, 100 percent of households were
connected to the national grid, and over 70 percent received the cultural
family title. The commune’s political security, and social order and safety
were maintained as well./.
Located in the northern part of Lac Thuy district, with a temperate climate and fertile soil, Phu Thanh commune has great potential and advantages in growing tea. The long-standing experience, combined with strict adherence to organic farming practices in the tea gardens, ensures that the dried tea products from Phu Thanh and Lac Thuy as a whole are sold out immediately upon production, providing a stable and prosperous life for the local people.
Amid efforts to streamline the administrative apparatus, Hoa Binh province has intensified measures to address challenges in land clearance, resettlement support, and infrastructure investment, aiming to speed up the progress of key projects.
Hoa Binh province has posted an unprecedented economic growth rate of 12.76% in the first quarter of 2025, marking its highest quarterly performance to date and positioning it as the second fastest-growing locality in the country, trailing only Bac Giang province.
Under current regulations, products in the One Commune – One Product (OCOP) programme that are rated three stars or higher must undergo re-evaluation every three months. However, in reality, some of these products fail to consistently meet the required standards, raising concerns about the sustainability of their OCOP certification. This underscores the urgent need for producers to enhance product quality and gradually develop their OCOP products into strong, marketable brands.
In 2019, the "One Commune, One Product" (OCOP) programme took root in Yen Thuy district. At the time, local products lacked branding, packaging, and labels, mostly sold in raw form through small-scale distribution. However, amid these challenges was a crucial advantage: farmers' willingness to change, experiment with standardised processes, and learn to package and price products based on value, not just weight.
Once barely visible on the northern region’s tourism map, Hoa Binh province welcomed 4.3 million visitors last year, generating a tourism revenue of nearly 4.74 trillion VND (USD), according for 31% of its GDRP. Beyond mere statistics, the milestone demonstrates that tourism and services have become new growth engines for the locality.