When the poor want to escape poverty

(Baonghean) - The greatest success in supporting the poor in Thai Hoa is the propaganda to gradually change awareness so that households can improve their lives, eliminating the mentality of waiting and relying on others. Currently, the rate of poor households in the town has decreased from 8% (in 2010) to less than 5% (in 2015).

Creative in the way of doing

Nghia Tien Commune, one of the remote and difficult areas of Thai Hoa town, has a high poverty rate and nearly half of the hamlets and villages are ethnic minorities. Mr. Ngo Si An - Chairman of the Commune Fatherland Front Committee said: In 2010, the poverty rate of the commune was nearly 15%, the life and income of the people faced many difficulties. In addition, the selection of tree and animal models for production was also difficult to implement for many reasons. This was the content that "heated up" many meetings of the Fatherland Front as well as organizations. And by the end of 2012, after the District Fatherland Front Committee came to work with the commune, the solution to poverty reduction was "unblocked".

Representatives of the Fatherland Front of Thai Hoa Town support the poor to build Great Solidarity houses.

Specifically, since 2013, the Town Women's Union has created conditions for 10 poor women in hamlets 4 and 5 (Tho ethnic group) of Nghia Tien commune to borrow 20 million VND to implement the free-range chicken farming model. The first year was successful, the union continued to consider lending to 10 more households, and to date the model has developed to 86 households with loans to raise free-range chickens very effectively. In addition to the poultry farming model, in 2015, the Town Farmers' Union continued to consider lending 200 million VND to 10 poor households in Nghia Tien commune to raise goats for breeding, an average of 20 million VND per household, the first year the commune bears the interest.

Mr. Sam Van Do in hamlet 5 is a poor household. From more than 10 chickens lent by the women's association, now his family's garden always has more than 100 chickens. To improve the economy, he boldly borrowed more capital to expand the barn to raise cows, 2 buffaloes, and renovate the hill garden to grow oranges and tangerines. Thanks to that, from a poor household, up to now the average annual income has reached 50 - 70 million VND. Similar to Mr. Do, is the family of Mr. Pham Duc Quang (born in 1983). With 20 million VND borrowed from the farmers' association, he invested in buying goats and buffaloes. Mr. Quang said: Thanks to the loan from the farmers' association, his family has escaped poverty. Currently, in the hamlet, there are dozens of households raising goats, an average of 15 - 20 goats/household, like his family raising 50 goats, the annual income is up to hundreds of millions of VND.

In addition to supporting families with financial difficulties, the town also creates conditions for families who are unfortunately sick or single. For example, the family of Mr. Ho Van Nguyen in Hamlet 5, who himself suffers from mental illness, was guaranteed by the commune so that the bank could create conditions for his family to borrow 20 million VND to invest in goat farming. From the initial 2 goats, thanks to good care, his family now has 10 goats. Mrs. Dong - Mr. Nguyen's mother said: If everything goes well, the family will pay off the debt in the second year and start making a profit...

Mr. Pham Duc Quang (Hamlet 5, Nghia Tien) escaped poverty with a loan to raise cows.

Thanks to effective methods, Nghia Tien is now one of the localities with the fastest poverty reduction rate in Thai Hoa town, with the rate in 2015 being only 2.52%. Not only that, there are models such as Mr. Ho Si Dieu's household in Hamlet 5, which used to be a poor household but has now become a typical farm economic model of the town, with an income of over 250 million VND/year. From a commune in Area 2, Nghia Tien commune is now a commune with outstanding loans for production development of over 16 billion VND.

In Quang Tien ward, Mr. Pham Duc Tai - Chairman of the ward's Fatherland Front Committee said: Along with other movements, the ward has mobilized poor households to renovate mixed gardens and plant fruit trees with high economic value. After registering and committing, 9 poor households were supported by the ward to buy seedlings of red-fleshed lemon, custard apple, and Taiwanese guava for planting; the ward also supported loans for 3 poor households to develop livestock farming. In the near future, according to the town's project, the Fatherland Front Committee together with the ward's People's Committee will survey to build 5 hectares of Quang Tien pink grapefruit in Lien Huong and Le Loi blocks to create conditions for 12 ethnic minority households to plant, in which the town supports seedlings, the ward is responsible for guiding the technical process. Thanks to the above efforts, the ward's poverty rate has decreased from 2.3% to 2.1% and strives to reach 1% by 2020.

Not only supporting seeds and animals like Nghia Tien and Quang Tien, other communes and wards, depending on local conditions and occupations, have ways to support the poor to rise up. For example, associations and unions stand up to guarantee loans for poor members, guide the application of science and technology in production, animal husbandry... gradually reducing the mentality of waiting and relying on others.

Attention, timely support

One of the highlights in the movement to help the poor in Thai Hoa town is the timely attention and support for difficult circumstances in many forms such as supporting poor households to build new houses, repair houses to ensure the standards of "hard roof, hard wall, hard floor"; households with sudden illness or accident are also visited and encouraged by organizations. In Quang Tien ward, with the active participation of the ward Red Cross, almost all cases of illness and accident of the poor and people in difficult circumstances are encouraged promptly.

Representatives of Quang Tien Ward Red Cross Society visited the family in difficulty.

Ms. Truong Thi Thuy - Chairwoman of the Ward Red Cross Association said: During the recent Tet holiday, the association alone had 245 gifts for various cases, including 63 for the poor. To have an operating fund, in addition to mobilizing members to contribute periodically, the association is very active and creative in mobilizing; on average each year from 19 - 20 million VND, of which during the 2016 Tet holiday, 33 million VND was raised. Thanks to the mobilized resources, in 2015, the ward supported the construction of a Great Solidarity House with 10 million VND and supported the repair of a house with 5 million VND (the family mobilized more) to build each house with 60 - 70 million VND.

Mr. Pham Duc Huan - Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Thai Hoa town said: The greatest success in supporting the poor is to gradually change the awareness of households to improve their lives, eliminating the mentality of waiting and relying on others. Currently, the rate of poor households in the town has decreased from 8% (in 2010) to less than 5% (in 2015).

Compared to many other localities, this rate is not very large, but according to the new multidimensional poverty standard, in some wards and communes, the rate of near-poor households is still high, posing a new challenge for the town. Therefore, sustainable poverty reduction is not only an immediate result but also a long-term goal that the town is aiming for.

Nguyen Hai