Open land to more ways out of poverty

(Baonghean) -For mountainous areas, expanding cultivated land is an important condition for hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and sustainable socio-economic development. Therefore, the Lang Khe Commune Party Committee issued Resolution No. 48/2012 on leading socio-economic development, focusing on land reclamation, restoration, and production development. From the correct resolution, the people agreed, and as a result, dozens of hectares of land were put into production, contributing positively to improving the lives of the people.

We arrived at Chom Lom village, Lang Khe commune (Con Cuong) at 10:30 am, the dry season sun in the mountains seemed more intense than in early summer. After waiting for about 20 minutes, village chief Loc Minh Ty rode his motorbike back, sweating profusely: "You guys came back without notice, so I went to weed the sugarcane. The whole village is focusing on taking care of the first sugarcane crop in the newly reclaimed field. It has only been planted for more than two months, the sugarcane is growing well, the people are very excited."

Through information research, we know that Chom Lom village is an important area for economic development of Lang Khe commune. Up to now, the people here have focused on growing rice, taking advantage of flat land to grow crops, and developing livestock. Therefore, the life of the villagers is the most prosperous in the commune. Especially since 2007, when Chom Lom suspension bridge was put into use, the people have had more advantages in developing production and livestock in the direction of goods.

According to Mr. Ty, Deputy Secretary and Head of Chom Lom village, the economic development movement in the village originated from exemplary party members. Mr. Ty's family also started from garden meters, fish ponds and rice fields. In 2012, the villagers were really excited when implementing the Party Committee's specialized resolution, Chom Lom had an additional 40 hectares of land from the policy of promoting land reclamation, restoration and expansion of production land. To date, Chom Lom village has nearly 100 hectares of cultivated land, including 25 hectares of rice, 30 hectares of sugarcane and 45 hectares of land for rotating crop production of corn, peanuts and beans.

To have an additional 40 hectares of land for production and economic development, Lang Khe commune and the local people have really tried to focus on carefully surveying the terrain, hiring bulldozers, leveling, mobilizing people to build roads, embankments, and improve the land. Although each hectare of reclaimed land is supported by the province from 5 to 10 million VND, the Party Committee and the communal government do not follow the movement to gain achievements but rely on reality to promote production value. The commune's approach is to work step by step, focusing on each locality, prioritizing favorable places to create large areas for people to produce, limiting small-scale, ineffective production. Therefore, immediately after handing over the newly reclaimed land, the Chom Lom people are excited to focus on planting trees of economic value to improve their lives.

Newly reclaimed fields in Chom Lom, Lang Khe commune.

From the initial success, Lang Khe commune continues to survey the terrain, mobilize resources to expand the cultivated area. In particular, the Party Committee and People's Committee of the commune closely coordinate with the Rural and Mountainous Development Board of Con Cuong district to implement the project of internal migration and economic development. This project has been initiated, building roads to the new village of Bien Phuc, reclaiming 20 hectares of rice fields, restoring over 45 hectares of fertile land, building Khe Poong dam to serve daily life and regulate irrigation for rice fields. When this project is completed, it will actively contribute to the commune's population dispersion and economic development. Lang Khe commune also sets a target that in 2013 and the following years, the commune will reclaim and restore an additional 20 to 40 hectares of land in other villages. At the same time, upgrade water reservoirs to serve production and promote the conversion of high-yield, high-quality crop structure.

Talking to us, the Secretary of the Lang Khe Commune Party Committee, Ms. Le Thi Thuy, said: Expanding cultivated land is the desire of all people in the commune. Although there is still a lot of land, the area is mountainous and has many slopes, so reclaiming flat land for cultivation is extremely difficult. If it is done on a small scale in the market niches (mountain ravines), the cost is high and the efficiency is not high. Out of a total of over 10,365 hectares of natural land, the commune has only 720 hectares of agricultural and forestry land and only 120 hectares of wet rice fields.

Currently, the commune has 7 villages, but two villages, Huoi Mac and Khe Thoi, do not have rice fields or flat land for production, and depend only on small areas of fields and protected forests. With the joint efforts of the people, the commune is making efforts to reclaim and restore more land areas for production, in addition, maximizing the forest economy, promoting the breeding of buffaloes, cows, wild pigs, and commercial porcupines, increasing income and escaping poverty sustainably.

Nguyen Son