'Support' from policy loans in Quynh Luu
(Baonghean.vn) - In recent years, thanks to loans from the Social Policy Bank, many people in Quynh Luu district have had more investment opportunities to implement highly effective economic models, contributing to increasing income, improving life, and escaping poverty.
Investing in applying machinery to the production of fine art wood
To keep up with market trends and promote product consumption, dozens of families in the traditional carpentry village of Quynh Hung have found ways to adapt. These include borrowing additional capital from banks to invest in machinery for production and finding ways to sell and market their products via social networks.
Currently, Quynh Hung commune has 4 hamlets engaged in carpentry with about 300 skilled workers. Of which, hamlet 11 (formerly Thuan Giang hamlet) has the largest number of households participating in the profession, some of whom have been in the profession for over 70 years.
Mr. Bui Van Tai in hamlet 11 said that in the beginning, the craft village mainly produced household goods, serving daily life needs such as: tables, chairs, wardrobes, beds... When the craft was mastered, craftsmen in Quynh Hung commune continued to explore and create many other designs and products.
Mr. Bui Van Tai added that with the current diverse and constantly changing development of the market, craftsmen must also adapt to meet the needs and tastes of consumers. If in the past, manual production and human labor were the main methods, now craftsmen apply machinery to almost all stages of production. The most commonly used machines are saws, planers, polishers, chisels, combine machines, rollers, mortising machines, thread running machines, screw machines, etc.
Products requiring sophistication, meticulousness and many complex details are also applied by Quynh Hung craft village to carve wood using computerized carving techniques. The same goes for Mr. Tai's family's woodworking workshop, which needs constant innovation and regular capital addition. Mr. Tai himself has borrowed capital from the Social Policy Bank many times to support his production and business.
The group borrowing capital from the Social Policy Bank, headed by Mr. Bui Van Tai, has 44 households borrowing capital, most of whom regularly borrow capital and are also a group that has no phenomenon of late interest or principal payment. The current outstanding debt of the households in the group is about 1.8 billion VND, of which 445 million VND is borrowed from the source of job creation. For example, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa's household regularly borrows capital from the Social Policy Bank. From the initial place of working for hire, he now opens his own carpentry workshop managed by himself and his son. Mr. Hoa is over 50 years old this year, has been involved in carpentry since childhood, and currently has his own carpentry workshop located at home with his son as the main carpenter. Mr. Hoa said that he is still maintaining the bank loan, and gradually handing over the workshop to his son, he works as an assistant to help his son with the minor stages.
In addition to mechanizing production stages, people in Quynh Hung carpentry village also diversify wood materials to produce different items, from products costing several million VND to sets of tables and chairs costing tens or hundreds of millions of VND, interior decoration products, worship items, etc. Products of Quynh Hung carpentry village are consumed in many provinces and cities across the country, especially Saigon, Phu Quoc and the northern provinces.
Mr. Tai said that currently, the market competition is very fierce, forcing carpenters to constantly adapt and innovate to keep up with the trend. In Quynh Hung commune, many long-time carpenters have quit their jobs and switched to other jobs such as going abroad to work, going to the South or the North to find work for hire or working as factory workers. Those who stay in the profession are forced to find a way to change. In addition to diversifying product designs, introducing machines to replace production stages to improve productivity and product quality, carpenters in Quynh Hung commune have also changed the way they market their products.
Currently, we mainly promote through social networks, combined with maintaining prestige in business transactions with customers, only then can we survive. And for households with small production scale, bank loans are also one of the positive "supports" for them to rise up.
Preserving the traditional fish sauce profession
Also maintaining and promoting the effectiveness of borrowing capital from the Social Policy Bank like in Quynh Hung, in Quynh Ngoc commune, thanks to bank capital, many households have changed their lives, from poverty to prosperity. Mr. Pham Sy Tuan - Head of the loan group in Song Ngoc village said that the whole village has 3 loan groups. The group led by Mr. Tuan has 57 households borrowing capital, the current outstanding debt of the group is about 1.8 billion VND. Mr. Tuan shared that most of the households in the group in particular and Quynh Ngoc commune in general, poor and near-poor households, have borrowed capital and promoted the effectiveness of the loan capital.
Like Ms. Tran Thi Lien in Song Ngoc village, who borrowed 70 million VND from the Policy Bank to develop the traditional fish sauce production profession. Ms. Lien's family's house is located in a rather small alley, the largest yard in front of her house is reserved for more than 200 fish fermentation tanks to produce traditional fish sauce.
Ms. Lien said that the profession of salting fish to produce fish sauce has been passed down through many generations in her family. Since childhood, every fishing season, she has been familiar with the job of going to the wharf in the morning to choose the freshest batches of spotted fish, anchovies, and herring to buy, salt, ferment the fish, and filter the essence to produce a concentrated, nutritious fish sauce product. Producing fish sauce in the family's traditional style, with strict processes and a long time of about 2 years to harvest a batch of product. To have a complete bottle of fish sauce that meets quality requirements, from the time of buying the fish, washing it, choosing pure salt for fermenting, then having to check it meticulously and stir it at least once every day... like that for 2 years.
Each barrel can salt more than 200 kg of fish, each batch of Lien's family ferments 6 - 7 tons of fresh fish. With about 200 barrels, each harvest can yield 2,000 - 2,500 liters of fish sauce, the selling price depending on the type of fish sauce is 80 - 100 thousand VND/liter. To keep up with the fish season and regularly stir hundreds of fish fermenting barrels, Lien's fish sauce production facility, in addition to family labor, also hires 1 regular worker.
Ms. Tran Thi Dung - Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Quynh Ngoc commune said: "The initial investment is quite large, especially when seafood is in high demand, so households producing fish sauce in Quynh Ngoc commune need a lot of investment capital. Fortunately, there is a preferential interest rate loan source from the Social Policy Bank, so many households can save costs and have capital to develop production. Currently, the loan capital source undertaken by the Women's Union of Quynh Ngoc commune has an outstanding debt of more than 3 billion VND, which is very helpful for disadvantaged families to have the conditions to escape poverty."
It can be affirmed that the loan capital from the Social Policy Bank is a solid foundation to help poor, near-poor, and newly escaped-poverty households cover their living expenses, continue to invest in production development, improve their living conditions, escape poverty, and become rich legitimately. This is also an important driving force to help Quynh Luu district continue to complete the criteria in building advanced new rural areas...
