(HBO) – As an agriculture-based commune, Toan Son (Da Bac district) has no part-time jobs so local residents has faced difficulties in their livelihoods. As part of efforts to help poor and near-poor households get access to soft loans to develop production, the board for hunger alleviation and poverty reduction has joined hands with the local Bank for Social Policies to mobilise and use the capital effectively. Thanks to the preferential loans, hundreds of ethnic groups are able to develop production and farming to sustainably escape poverty.
Photo:
The soft loan provided by the Bank for Social Policies helps Ly Trung Binh’s
household in Ranh hamlet, Toan Son commune develop production and stabilize the
life.
Earlier, the family of Duong Thi Quyet and Ly Trung Binh in Ranh hamlet, Toan
Son commune, was a poor household and they did not have sufficient capital for
production development. Poverty clung to the family like a leech when all five
members relied on a sugarcane field and a small grove of arrowroots. The family
once lived in a low-roofed cottage. The couple then decided to borrow 30
million VND in 2013 to plant wattle and purchase two cows. They bought
materials and fertilisers to take care of the sugarcane field and arrowroot grove.
In 2016, the family was enabled to borrow an additional 25 million VND from a housing
programme. Together with support from relatives, they built a
100 square metrehouse with a total cost of 120 million VND.
Binh said "My family is grateful to the Bank for Social Policies for the loans.
When settling down to married life, we faced a series of difficulties. Thanks
to the preferential loans, we gradually overcame challenges. In the next two
years when we harvest the wattle forest, we will pay the bank debts and escape
poverty sustainably”.
Trieu Thi Thuy, an official of the board for hunger alleviation and poverty
reduction, said that Toan Son commune is currently home to over 600 households
with 2,439 people, 50 percent of them are Dao ethnic minorities. The commune’s
nine saving and lending groups have implemented 11 preferential credit
programmes for over 400 households with total outstanding debts of 15 billion
VND. The loans have been used to expand production, build houses and construct
waterworks.
Soft loans, agricultural encouragement activities, training workshops and
science and technology transfer have helped hundreds of households in the
commune get rid of poverty. To date, the
poverty and near-poor rates in the commune drop to 48 percent and 20 percent,
respectively, with per capita income reaches 21 million VND./.
With just over a month left until the school summer break, students are eagerly anticipating a period of rest and fun after a year of academic pressure. To provide a healthy environment for the physical development, in addition to the classes that foster talents and enhance the academic knowledge, sports and physical activities continue to attract a large number of children and teenagers.
On April 17th, Hoa Binh Provincial Museum organized a program to promote and introduce the outstanding values of "Hoa Binh Culture” at the Boarding Secondary and High School for ethnic minority students in Mai Chau District.
The Hoa Binh College of Technical Technology, in collaboration with the Hoa Binh Technical and Economic College and the provincial Association of Literature and Arts, hosted a gathering on April 15 to celebrate Laos’ traditional Bunpimay (New Year) Festival 2025 and debut the new book "Nguoi Muong o ban Don” (Muong people in Don village).
In the millennia-long history of national construction and safeguarding, people of all ethnic groups in Hoa Binh have been united and closely bound together to overcome all difficulties and challenges, standing alongside the entire Vietnamese people throughout the history of building and defending the country.
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