Accompanying people to help increase income

(Baonghean) - After being recognized as meeting new rural standards in 2015, in order to maintain and improve the criteria, all levels and sectors of Thai Hoa town have strongly participated, concretizing with support and incentive mechanisms and policies for people to develop the economy, supporting 13 dairy cow farming households, 11 orange growing households, and more than 40 pink grapefruit growing households.

Entering the third year of achieving the new rural goal, one of the main contents and orientations of Thai Hoa town is to focus on economic development, thereby focusing on improving income criteria for people. Mr. Ngo Xuan Dong - Deputy Head of Economic Department, Thai Hoa Town People's Committee said: "Determining the goal of increasing income for people, Thai Hoa has had many new policies based on identifying the strengths of each locality to apply to bring high efficiency in practice.

For example, we have the advantage of a model of association with enterprises, purchasing all output products from dairy cows, so we have implemented a policy of supporting 1 year of medium-term interest rates for households borrowing capital from banks to develop dairy farming, equivalent to a support amount of 6 million VND/1 dairy cow. This method is initially showing effectiveness in the communes where it is implemented, many households are wishing to borrow more capital to expand their scale."

Orange growing model applying drip irrigation technology in Dong Hoa hamlet, Nghia Hoa commune (Thai Hoa town). Photo: Phu Binh

Typical among such households is the family of Mr. Duong Hoang Duc in Phu My hamlet, Tay Hieu commune. When he first learned about the support policy of the town People's Committee, he and his family wanted to register to implement the model but hesitated because of his lack of understanding of farming techniques. As if "reading" his worries and concerns, the town directed the allocation of funds to open short-term vocational training classes and issue certificates of completion of dairy farming training courses to farmers in need.

After finishing his studies, and receiving support for the first year's loan interest, Mr. Duc and some other families in the neighborhood took out loans from the bank to buy breeding cows from Vinamilk. During the model implementation process, thanks to the close connection between the town government and the enterprise, if the breeders encountered technical difficulties, the enterprise would send staff to the site to help.

Sharing about the effectiveness of this method, Mr. Duc said: “The most obvious change is shown in the net income of farmers like us, raising 5-6 cows, after deducting expenses, the profit is about 5 million VND/week, which is not small compared to the current average level in the localities. My family is planning to borrow more capital, taking full advantage of the town's policy of supporting the payment of medium-term loan interest for the first year, to multiply the current scale many times over, thereby improving the source of income”.

Thai Hoa town has also paid special attention to developing the cultivation sector, especially fruit trees and citrus trees. In order to maintain and expand the brand of Quang Tien pink grapefruit - a famous local specialty, wards and communes with suitable soil conditions for this variety to grow and develop such as Nghia Tien commune, Quang Tien ward, Long Son, ... will be included in the town's support for 100% of the cost of seedlings, equivalent to 10-15 million VND/ha, depending on the size of the initial seedlings.

Raising dairy cows brings high income in Phu My hamlet, Tay Hieu commune (Thai Hoa town). Photo: Phu Binh

The above policy has been welcomed by the people, because it not only helps people reduce the initial costs of agricultural economic activities, but also enhances the meaning, contributing to keeping the famous grapefruit brand from fading over time. Or with orange trees, popular in Quang Phong ward, Nghia Hoa commune, Dong Hieu, ... households, once they complete planting 1 hectare of oranges, ensuring technical processes, and are approved by the Steering Committee for Economic and Agricultural Model Development of the town, will receive a maximum support of 15 million VND/ha.

As a beneficiary of this policy package, Ms. Dang Thi Ngoc Hoai - owner of a 10-hectare fruit farm in Nghia Hoa commune said: "Farmers benefit a lot from the support and close supervision of the town, not only in terms of material costs such as seed costs, fertilizers, etc., but also in timely techniques for growing and caring for oranges. Recently, in an effort to keep up with the trend of applying scientific and technological advances in production, the family farm has deployed the installation of a drip irrigation system for orange trees, and the town has provided a support mechanism of 62.5 million VND/ha...".

In order to create more jobs and income for farmers, the People's Committee of Thai Hoa town has signed a contract with Vinamilk to plan a land area of ​​150 hectares in Nghia Hoa, Dong Hieu communes and Long Son ward to grow corn, serving as raw materials for animal feed for dairy farms. At the same time, to gather and promote small-scale economic models, the town's leaders focus on mobilizing and concentrating economic models to establish and participate in cooperatives, thereby joining hands to successfully build a collective brand from the support capital of the province, the town and the self-reliant resources of the establishments.

The policies and support mechanisms have been highly effective, in no small part because they were conceived in conjunction with the analysis of the strengths and difficulties of each locality and each economic sector. That is truly an approach that other localities in the province should learn from the experience of Thai Hoa town./.

Phu Binh