Visit the 'hundred million village' in Nghe An

Tuong Son is a commune with many difficulties in Anh Son district, however, in the process of building new rural areas and converting crop structure, there have been breakthroughs. Together with the commune's agricultural officers, we went to Bai Trang field in hamlet 6, Tuong Son commune, where people had just finished harvesting sugarcane. This field had just completed land consolidation, converting small plots into large plots and planting sugarcane, corn, and elephant grass according to the people's registered needs.

Sugarcane yield from 110-150 tons/ha in Tuong Son commune (Anh Son) after land accumulation. Photo: Tran Chau

Last year, farmers harvested an average yield of 110 tons/ha of sugarcane, with some households achieving a yield of 150-160 tons/ha, an unprecedented feat in Nghe An.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Phuong - Head of Village 6, who is also a sugarcane grower here, said: In addition to some households with very high sugarcane productivity, such as Mr. Thai Ba Sy's household with 155 tons/ha, after deducting costs, earned a profit of 110 million VND, Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh's household planted 0.5 ha, harvested 61 tons, earned 40 million VND, my family (Mr. Phuong - PV) planted 0.5 ha, after deducting costs for seeds, land preparation, and fertilizer, earned more than 50 tons of sugarcane, earned more than 20 million VND.

Second sugarcane crop in Lang Trang field, Tuong Son commune (Anh Son), where land consolidation has been implemented. Photo: Tran Chau

Ms. Nguyet - an agricultural officer of the commune who went along excitedly: After harvesting the sugarcane, everyone was surprised at the productivity of the sugarcane fields. Previously, sugarcane was grown on hills and corners, each household had a few acres, the productivity was only 65-60 tons/ha, now with the conversion of land, sugarcane has reached over 100 tons/ha. Households who want to grow sugarcane have planned their land to one place, households who grow elephant grass have planned their land to one place, corn is the same, the productivity and output are much higher.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Phuong - Head of Village 6 explained: Not only is the productivity higher, but investing in fertilization, land preparation, and machinery is easier. The machinery for this 13.5 hectare sugarcane field is very convenient, and after bidding and receiving the land, the people were excited and invested better, so the productivity was outstanding.

Fields after land conversion and accumulation in Tuong Son commune (Anh Son). Photo: Tran Chau

Lang Trang field, Tuong Son commune after land conversion has 27 hectares of land, with 26 households participating in sugarcane cultivation. Just in the first sugarcane crop, people have high profits from 20 - 100 million VND. From the second and third crops onwards, the cost of care is less, the work of plowing the land is less, the profit will be two or three times higher than the first crop.Mr. Nguyen Quang Phuong - Village Chief of Village 6, Tuong Son Commune

Sharing about the initial difficulties of land accumulation, Mr. Phuong said: Land is now as precious as gold, land 64 (land allocated for long-term agricultural production) is very little, all farmers in Anh Son district value land and want to have more land to grow trees, especially industrial trees. After many meetings, mobilization, and explanation, people agreed to implement the commune's land accumulation policy of bringing land to each area according to each tree, with village 6, Tuong Son commune as a model.

As a result, 5% of the land was concentrated in one place, with 27 hectares, 26 households registered to grow sugarcane, with the LK9211 sugarcane variety, which gave very high yields, and the factory purchased the products. As for the households growing elephant grass, each household received 3 sao, and the corn land was still planted normally. The advantage of land accumulation is that whoever has the conditions to produce and wants to invest heavily can receive land and bid for land to develop the economy better. In Lang Trang, the road outside the field was previously 5m wide, now the commune has planned it to be 8m wide, making it very convenient for sugarcane trucks to travel.

Implementing Decision No. 2023/QD-UBND dated May 13, 2021 of the People's Committee of Anh Son district on approving the Project "Land consolidation, plot exchange, land accumulation" for the period 2021-2025, the Party Committee and the People's Committee of Tuong Son commune have adhered to the goals and tasks, put them into work, considered them important political tasks, promoted direction, and resolutely implemented them. The commune has issued many documents, established steering committees and working groups to carry out this work, organized many expanded conferences, collected people's opinions, and organized village Party cell meetings to discuss implementation methods.

Through synthesis, Tuong Son commune has held 6 meetings at the commune level, 88 meetings at the village level, including Party cell meetings, village meetings, Front meetings, mass organizations, many meetings with members of the District Steering Committee in charge of the commune to implement the policy of land consolidation and plot exchange. Up to now, Tuong Son commune has consolidated and plotted 157.3 hectares, reaching 100% of the plan, allocated 64 households with an area of ​​124 hectares, re-planned sugarcane area of ​​13.5 hectares, animal feed area of ​​11.5 hectares, re-planned traffic and irrigation of 8.2 hectares.

Mr. Nguyen Tai Quy - Chairman of Tuong Son Commune People's Committee

After land conversion, the report of Tuong Son commune shows that the number of 5% plots of land for growing color and industrial crops before conversion was 242 plots, after conversion there were 99 plots. Land 64 before conversion had 1,441 plots, after conversion there were 1,041 plots. The conversion work was successfully carried out in Bui field, Mo field, Ao Cac, Chu Do, Thien Bich...

About the "hundred million" village in Cam Son commune

In Cam Son commune, there are also many stories about land conversion, but people are excited when harvesting green squash, red squash, and cucumbers in the last winter-spring crop with high profits, some houses reaching 300 million VND. This land is also an area that has just completed land consolidation. People jokingly say that this is the "hundred million village".

Leaders of Anh Son district inspect the land consolidation and plot exchange work in Anh Son. Photo: PV

Hoi Lam village, Cam Son commune is also a typical example of land conversion in Anh Son district. Mr. Hoang Manh Ha - Head of Hoi Lam village said: Land conversion in the village reached 30 hectares, of which 5% land reached 10 hectares, the conversion work was completed in 2011.

"After the conversion, the village had 15 hectares of green squash, the price of squash sometimes reached 20 million VND/ton, the lowest was 10 million VND/ton, total revenue reached 15-20 million VND/sao, net profit was 10 million VND/sao. At first, it was quite difficult to mobilize the people, but after doing a good job of mass mobilization, encouraging, motivating, pointing out the benefits of better production and protection of the fields, from there, the people agreed to receive a certain area for production" - Village Chief Hoang Manh Ha said.

Harvesting winter squash and gourd in Hoi Lam village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son). Photo: Tran Chau

Initially, seeing that corn farming was not effective, people researched and learned about the market and started growing squash and watermelon. After watermelons were difficult to sell, people settled with squash, red squash and a few other products until now. The electricity and water systems were jointly financed by the villagers, who both produced and traded for the northern provinces and Hanoi. On average, each household in Hoi Lam village earned more than 100 million VND in the 2022-2023 winter crop. In previous winter crops, people also achieved the same income. The village is called "hundred million village" for this reason.

With the effectiveness of the second land accumulation, Cam Son commune has specialized in vegetables, farms, and industrial crops. Many households like Ms. Be Kien and Vuong Dinh Trinh in Hoi Lam village grow squash for an income of 200-300 million VND/crop.

After the winter crop ends, people grow corn for livestock. On Highway 7 through the area, you can see the clear blue Lam River flowing through, depositing alluvium, the wharf here is rich with the endless green of corn, sugarcane, squash, and cucumber.

Green squash brings profit of more than 10 million VND/sao in Hoi Lam village, Cam Son commune (Anh Son). Photo: Tran Chau

The obvious effectiveness of Tuong Son and Cam Son communes (Anh Son) through land accumulation has affirmed the effectiveness of the major policy on land accumulation in Nghe An, associated with large plots, contiguous fields, and contiguous plots.

Farmers in Cam Son commune (Anh Son) produce green squash effectively after converting their fields. Photo: Tran Chau

This is a major policy, implemented "on a pilot basis" and then expanded widely. Villages and hamlets in Anh Son district have resolutely implemented the policy of the superiors, creating conditions for planning fields, traffic, irrigation, and better protection of fields, especially, effectively exploiting the value of land, creating new and effective ways of doing things in agricultural production. That way of doing things, along with the mindset of investing in agricultural production, bringing mechanization into the fields, aiming at production according to market demand and being implemented according to the motto "people know, people discuss, people do, people check" has created efficiency at the grassroots level.

Contiguous rice fields in Anh Son district. Photo: Tran Chau