Visit Mong Pha Lom village - the second unit (after the central village) in Tam Hop commune, which is striving to build a new rural village, and meet the Party Secretary of Xong Ba Giay village, born in 1988, who just returned from visiting the fields. He shared: “Previously, people did not know how to develop household economy, so life was still very poor. Now, with the attention and support of the Party Committee and the government, many policies as well as orientations on developing suitable plants and animals, people have changed a lot in their thinking and ways of doing things to produce and raise livestock more effectively. Although life is not yet free of hardship, it is much better than before. The appearance of the village has also changed a lot. Currently, the village has achieved 11/13 new rural criteria!”
Having said that, Xong Ba Giay happily led us down to visit the lush green seven-leaf ginseng growing model of the village chief Xong Ba Cho. It is known that in addition to growing ginseng, Xong Ba Cho also grows red turmeric and raises 6 buffaloes and cows. "As the head of the village, I have to "match my words with my actions" so that the villagers will believe and listen! I am poor, how can I propagate to help people escape poverty?", Xong Ba Cho confided.
Pha Lom village has 128 households, 767 people, and a party cell with 26 party members. In recent years, in order to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, with the help of the Party Committee and the government, the Youth Volunteer Force 9, Tam Hop Border Guard Station, the Party Cell, and the Pha Lom village management board have promoted and mobilized people to actively develop the economy, mainly developing livestock with a herd of more than 300 cows, 40 buffaloes, and 170 pigs. In addition, they raise black chickens, black pigs, goats, and grow 8 hectares of red turmeric and 20 hectares of bo bo. Some households also grow seven-leaf ginseng - a precious medicinal herb with high economic value.
In addition, Pha Lom is also the leading village in protecting cool fish with a length of more than 1km. Thanks to changes in production and cultivation thinking, many households in the village have become well-off households such as Xong Ba Nanh household with a model of growing bitter bamboo shoots, raising buffalo, goats, and pigs; Long Nhia Chu household with a model of raising black pigs...
Similarly, in Huoi Son village, with the participation of the entire political system, functional forces stationed in the area and the exemplary pioneering of cadres, party members, village elders, and prestigious people in the village, people have actively grown two rice crops, ginger, cassava, taro, red turmeric, and pineapple to increase income. According to Vu Ba Ma, deputy village chief: Thanks to being "guided by hand", combining traditional methods and applying science and technology in production and animal husbandry, the rice has more grains, corn has more cobs, and ginger has more tubers. Red turmeric is purchased by the Youth Volunteer Team 9 at the farm at a price of 4.5 - 5 thousand VND/kg.
“Recently, some households have also grown high-yield cassava to sell to traders in Tam Thai commune who come to buy it at the price of 10-20 thousand VND/kg depending on the type,” said Vu Ba Ma, deputy head of the village, when he took us to visit his family's pineapple and corn growing area.
Mr. Nguyen Phi Thanh - Chairman of Tam Hop Commune People's Committee said: "Previously, talking about poverty reduction in Tam Hop commune encountered many difficulties, because the idea of relying on and waiting for the State's support was still deeply ingrained in the thinking and working habits of many people, even cadres and party members. Determining that only when the spirit of self-reliance, daring to think and dare to do of the poor is raised can the root cause of poverty be solved and poverty reduced sustainably, the entire political system of the commune has focused on doing a good job of propaganda, raising awareness for the people, in which the requirement is "party members go first, the country follows".
In addition, the Party Committee and the communal government have also focused on directing the issuance of resolutions and action programs that are close to reality; flexibly and effectively integrating the poverty reduction program with the new rural construction program and socio-economic development projects. At the same time, working groups have been established, assigning tasks and assigning responsibilities to each communal official and civil servant directly in charge of the villages to implement economic targets and poverty reduction criteria, contributing to the construction of the new rural areas. Thereby, many "Smart Mass Mobilization" models have been recognized, such as the model of building rural roads in Pha Lom village, the model of growing medicinal plants in Huoi Son village; the model of maintaining and developing OCOP products (dried bamboo shoots) in Phong village, etc.
Thanks to that, the people's aspiration to escape poverty was strongly aroused, bringing positive movements to the local socio-economic indicators". The proof is that in 2022, the rice field area in the commune reached 53.5/52ha, an increase of 2.9%; corn 73/70ha, an increase of 4.3%; cassava 80/54ha, an increase of 48.1%; red turmeric: 18/15ha, yielding 367 tons, an increase of 20% compared to the plan, ginger 8/8ha, reaching 100% of the plan. The total number of livestock and poultry also increased compared to the plan and the same period last year with a herd of 368 buffaloes, 1,276 cows, 902 pigs, 217 goats, and 14,478 poultry. The whole commune has more than 50 sustainable economic models (raising buffaloes and cows for breeding). fat, grow bo bo, red turmeric, raise goats, bamboo rats, free-range black chickens, black pigs...).
In the first half of the 2020-2025 term, the commune's key programs and projects were implemented resolutely, with a focus and key points, bringing practical results, with 16/30 targets achieved and exceeded, 12/30 targets likely to be achieved by the end of the term. Of which, the average income per capita reached 22/23 million VND, reaching 96% of the congress resolution; Budget revenue in the area reached 1,809.5/75 million VND, reaching 2413% of the congress resolution. From 2020 to now, the total investment capital for infrastructure in the commune is 16 billion 434 million VND, building 9 works, focusing on the fields of transportation, irrigation, domestic water, education, health, and culture. In addition, the commune also called for and mobilized other support sources of 1 billion 500 million VND, built 2 works serving people's lives, and put them into effective exploitation and use.
Tam Hop is a commune with 14.828km of border adjacent to Vieng Thoong district, Bolikhamxay province (Laos), with 5 villages, 530 households, 2452 people of 5 ethnic groups: Mong, Tay Poong, Thai, Kho Mu and Kinh living together.
To ensure the three peaces of “peace for the people, peace for the area, peace for the border”, the Party Committee, the government, and armed forces have joined hands with villages and hamlets to deploy many new models and good practices to develop the economy, stabilize life, and ensure security and order. For example, facing the risk of depletion of the source of fresh fish - considered a natural specialty with high economic value, the People's Council of Tam Hop commune has approved a project to conserve aquatic resources in the area, and at the same time has sanctions to punish people inside and outside the commune who violate the law. In addition, the villages have established aquatic resource protection areas according to specific streams (each village is 1km or more) with signs posted to inform people, prohibiting exploitation and fishing.
This is also included in the conventions and village regulations of each village and is voluntarily complied with by the people. According to Mr. Le Hong Thai - Secretary of the Party Committee of Tam Hop commune: Some villages have used the money from fishing to raise collective funds (from 15-20 million VND per year) to install lighting lines like in Vang Mon village, purchase equipment, build roofs for community cultural houses like in Xop Nam village, or to serve the villagers on holidays, Tet or national solidarity day... Thanks to that, in 2022, Tam Hop has expanded an additional 3.8km to protect cool fish sources.
On the other hand, given the specific terrain of mainly hills, steep slopes, many streams, and bordering Laos, there are many small roads and trails, posing a potential risk for drug smuggling and transportation through the area. With the determination not to let the border area of Tam Hop commune become a complex area for drugs, the Party Committee and the government have coordinated with functional forces to launch and successfully implement the pilot model of "Narcotics-free border commune", making Tam Hop the first border commune of Tuong Duong district and Nghe An province to complete the project.
Accordingly, the functional forces in the area directly went to each family of the residents in the villages and hamlets to propagate and disseminate the law on drugs; organized the hanging of banners, slogans, and billboards on drug prevention and control at the People's Committee, the Commune Police, and schools. Advised and coordinated with the District Police, the Procuracy, and the People's Court to organize a mobile trial of subjects for illegal possession of drugs in Phong village, creating a positive change in people's awareness; created records, sent 8 subjects to compulsory drug rehabilitation at drug rehabilitation facilities, and organized community-based drug rehabilitation for 2 subjects.
In particular, when discovering some subjects propagating and developing illegal Protestantism in the Pha Lom border village, disrupting the lives of the people. The Party Committee and the government of Tam Hop commune directed departments, branches, and organizations to coordinate with the Border Guard to establish a working group to regularly monitor the area, propagate and raise awareness for the people to raise their vigilance, not to participate in helping bad guys propagate and develop illegal religions; focus on production, socio-economic development and preserve the national cultural identity; combine with the Party cell, the village management board, the village elder, the prestigious people, and the clan leaders to fight and mobilize households that have followed Protestantism such as Lau Song Lenh household to give up illegal preaching activities and rebuild the ancestral altar. At the same time, many programs were implemented to help Pha Lom village build a new countryside. Therefore, up to now, there have been no activities violating border regulations in the area, and illegal religious activities in Pha Lom village have been stably controlled.
In addition, to contribute to the peace of the people and the locality, in April 2022, the Tam Hop Commune Party Committee launched the "1,000 VND Fund" model to support poor households. Accordingly, in 5 village and hamlet Party cells, there is a "1,000 VND Fund" box attached to the community cultural house and 1 fund box is located right at the Commune People's Committee. According to village cadres, not only party members contribute 1,000 VND per day, but in fact, many people when coming to activities, meetings, participating in competitions, art performances... at the village community cultural house also voluntarily contribute to the fund box.
The “1,000 VND Fund” box will be opened once every quarter. The money raised from the Party cells will be transferred to the commune’s general fund to support a family in difficult circumstances in the area or a family facing an incident or risk in life. Up to now, more than 80 million VND has been raised to support 3 poor households to remove dilapidated thatched houses in Pha Lom village, including Xong Ba Lu, Xong Ba Chua, Xong Tong Xo and 2 households that were supported with trees and seedlings to develop production and have now escaped poverty, namely Luong Van Than and Kha Van Lanh in Vang Mon village.
Although still facing many difficulties when the poverty rate is 262 households, accounting for 49.62%; near-poor households are 70 households, accounting for 13.26%, but with the aspiration to rise of the people and the solidarity and consensus of the local Party Committee and government, the support of the functional forces stationed in the area, the rural appearance as well as the lives of ethnic minorities in the border commune of Tam Hop have bright colors.
The consensus between "Party's will - people's heart" in this border commune was recognized when in 2022, Tam Hop District Party Committee was honored as a typical excellent unit by Tuong Duong District Party Committee.
