When agriculture and forestry make their mark

(Baonghean) -At the beginning of the 2010-2015 term, the 19th Congress of the Tan Ky District Party Committee set out 21 socio-economic development targets. After 2 and a half years of implementation, 14/21 targets set by the congress have been achieved or nearly achieved; the remaining 7 targets are considered difficult to achieve. Among the achieved targets, the agriculture and forestry sector has made a remarkable mark.

Coming to Tan An, one of the communes with remarkable progress in implementing the mid-term resolution of Tan Ky, is one of the three special communes of Tan Ky, in addition to the administrative management of the commune government, the farm manages 50% of the land fund. With an area of ​​2,453 hectares, the land conditions are relatively favorable, but the shift in crop structure to bring high economic value in Tan An is not without difficulties. It was not until there was a higher-level resolution and the right key crop was identified that Tan An boldly introduced rubber trees. It can be said that rubber trees have opened up a direction for shifting crop structure in the area. Currently, in addition to 100 hectares of sugarcane with an output of 4,500 to 5,000 tons/year, Tan An has 400 hectares of rubber, of which since 2010, about 100 hectares have been newly planted each year; 42 hectares have been harvested, 300 hectares are expected to be harvested by 2015.

Mr. Phan Xuan Luong - Secretary of Dien Chau hamlet Party Cell, the earliest person to take care of and plant rubber in Tan An, said: His family has 11 hectares of rubber, of which 8 hectares are newly planted according to the commune's policy. Currently, his family has 4 hectares of rubber being harvested, on average, each day they tap about 120 kg of latex at the price of 14,000 VND/kg, earning about 1.7 million VND per day. To plant rubber, in addition to the initial seedling cost of 800 VND to 20,000 VND/tree (if the seedling is 1 year old); each year, people have to spend 20 - 30 million VND/ha to buy fertilizer. Dien Chau hamlet has 33 households, of which 31 households have planted rubber, of which 24 households have started to exploit, so their economic life is very prosperous.

Tan An strives to plant 30 new hectares each year so that by 2015 there will be 600 - 650 hectares of rubber, contributing to the communes' target of planting new rubber in Tan Ky district. In addition to rubber, thanks to the good coordination with An Ngai Farm One Member Co., Ltd., farmers are also given land from the farm to plant and raise other trees and animals with high economic value such as oranges and kumquats. The farm also ensures some services of providing seeds and purchasing rubber latex... so people are more secure. Mr. Cao Tien Thin, Secretary of Tan An Commune Party Committee, said: The success of bringing rubber trees to the area is a breakthrough in implementing the transformation of the commune's crop structure.

It can be said that bringing rubber trees into the area is a vivid, creative example and closely follows the implementation of the congress's resolution on converting crop structure in Tan Ky.

Mr. Phan Cong Doan in Dien Chau hamlet introduces a 4-year-old rubber garden.

In addition to the typical example of crop restructuring, Tan An was also chosen as one of the four pilot communes of Tan Ky to implement the construction of new rural areas. Immediately after the launching ceremony, the Party Committee of the commune issued a specialized resolution on new rural construction for implementation. In 3 years, the commune mobilized a total amount of 7.5 billion VND (an average of 720 thousand VND/person), of which 1.299 billion VND in cash, people donated 6,000m2 of land (about 6 billion VND); mobilized 10,000 working days, equivalent to about 1.5 billion VND to build concrete roads and build welfare works. In 2 years of building new rural areas, Tan An built 8.85 km of concrete roads, accounting for nearly half of the district's concrete road construction target. Tan An was identified by the district as one of the communes that, when conditions permit, will focus on investment to complete the new rural criteria as soon as possible.

Another area in the economic field that bears the mark of direction and adherence to the basis to implement the targets set out in the Resolution of the Congress is the Project to improve the quality of livestock. Although at the beginning of the term, the target was to increase the total livestock herd, due to the epidemic situation, the livestock herd not only did not increase but also tended to decrease (in 2010-2011, the number of buffaloes and cows decreased by nearly 4,000). Based on reality and on the basis of the province's policy, the District Party Committee agreed on the policy and assigned the District People's Committee to issue a Project to adjust in the direction of focusing on improving the quality of the herd instead of increasing the total herd, thereby creating economic value for livestock farming.

Up to now, after more than 2 years of implementation, the results have clearly changed, after a period of decreasing herd, it has now increased again. Notably, the quality structure of the herd has changed with over 50% of the herd of Sind crossbred cattle replacing the poor quality native cattle. In 2011 and 2012, although the herd did not increase, the output of fresh meat for slaughter in the area increased by approximately 9%/year. People have enthusiastically participated in receiving the project to expand the herd. Typical of these are Dong Van, Nghia Dung, Nghia Dong, Ky Tan, Tan Huong, each commune raises from 3,000 - 4,000 cattle, many families raise up to dozens of buffaloes and cows...

The adjustment of the implementation method of the above project not only demonstrates the ability to flexibly direct the implementation of the resolution, but also comes from staying close to the grassroots and understanding the psychology of the people. Thanks to this project, people have changed from free-range grazing to confinement; people also know how to take advantage of the land on the banks to grow grass, both as food for livestock and to prevent soil erosion...

Obviously, to achieve the above results is not easy, based on forecasting, grasping favorable and difficult situations, the Standing Committee of Tan Ky District Party Committee has closely and promptly led and directed key tasks in economic fields such as converting crop and livestock structure, improving product quality and productivity; identifying key crops for each region and gradually planning specialized crop areas; directing farmers to "consolidate land", accumulate land, form large-scale fields; focusing on directing the implementation of the National Target Program on new rural construction; supporting production development, converting rural occupations in 5 communes of Tan An, Nghia Binh, Nghia Thai, Nghia Hoan, Nghia Dung...

Thanks to that, one of the biggest highlights in implementing the mid-term resolution in Tan Ky is that the value of agricultural, forestry and fishery production achieved a growth rate of 4.47%, while the target was 4-5%. Specifically, the total production value in 2012 of Tan Ky reached 1,039 billion VND, equal to 88% of the plan; the total average food output was 54,591 tons/plan of 55,000 tons/year; the sugarcane growing area was 5,778 hectares/plan of 4,500 hectares, yield of 58.5 tons/ha; planted 2,346 hectares/plan of 5,000 hectares of rubber... This index once again proves that in difficult times, agriculture and forestry are still the "support" helping Tan Ky's socio-economy to stabilize and develop.

Article and photos: Nguyen Hai