Muong Long touches the warmth!
Persimmon trees flourish in Muong Long land. Muong Long commune, Ky Son district - once considered the capital of opium poppy, when we arrived, winter peach blossoms were already smiling, as if to celebrate the Mong New Year. Persimmon and peach trees also bore more fruit than the previous season. The road to the gate was sunny and cloudy..."Dreaming of opium poppy is a bad omen"
Rose trees grow well on Muong Long land. |
"Dreaming of opium poppy is a bad omen"
This morning, Mr. Lau Giong Dia woke up very early, his ginger field was waiting for harvesters. Since the opium poppy was eradicated, his family focused on growing plums, peaches, taro, and ginger. On the land that seemed to be suitable for only one type of plant, new plants have now taken root. The white color of plum blossoms has replaced the white and purple of poppies. The same flower color but gives two moods. Mr. Dia's family used to grow more than 5 hectares of opium. The day the commune officials came to persuade him, his family was one of the first households in the commune to voluntarily give up opium poppies, although at that time, he could not imagine how his family of seven would survive. Fortunately, thanks to the officials who always stood side by side, shared hardships with the people, helped and supported the people with propaganda programs, integrated, subsidized prices, and freight subsidies for plant and seed products. Now the land that had been devoid of opium poppies has grown 500 plum trees, more than 2 hectares of ginger and taro. Every year, he earns 8 million from ginger and more than ten million from raising cows and chickens. His son has bought a car to transport ginger and taro to Muong Xen market to sell. Mr. Dia said: "Compared to before, growing ginger and raising cows is more difficult, but in return, the income is stable and life is more comfortable."
Not only Mr. Dia's family, all 14 villages of Muong Long commune have now completely eradicated opium poppies. After more than ten years of implementing the campaign to eradicate opium poppy cultivation, from a district with the largest opium acreage in the country: 3,200 hectares (in 1992), it has now basically eradicated it completely. Mr. Lau Cho Chech, Chairman of the Commune Farmers' Association said: "Now, people have forgotten about opium poppies, and seeing opium poppies in their dreams is considered a bad omen."
Ginger - a high income product for people. |
His village used to have 130 households (740 people), each of which grew about 1 to 2 hectares of opium. Life was not prosperous thanks to that. "Growing opium only makes the traders rich. Each year, a family can only earn less than 10 million VND, it is hard and dangerous" - he said.
Raising livestock is more efficient than growing crops.
The above advanced examples are just bright spots in the general picture and are not enough to brighten the general picture. Persuading people to abandon the long-standing habit of growing opium poppies and get used to new crops and livestock is a fierce and persistent struggle and a welcome victory, but it is only the first step. Helping people to get new varieties of plants to bear fruit on old land is already a difficult step, but when the plants bear fruit, they encounter other difficulties. Reality shows that: not only in Muong Long but also in many other northern mountainous provinces of our country, when converting the structure of crops and livestock, they encounter a difficult problem: finding an outlet for agricultural products. As active as Mr. Hua's family, they grow a few hundred plum trees, each year they harvest about 15 tons, but many crops have to cry out because of the lack of outlet. The road to Heaven's Gate is blocked for several months during the rainy season, and cars cannot enter the village. The plums are ripe, but there is no place to sell them. Sometimes, when the truck carrying the plums reaches the district town, they are rotten. The rest cannot be harvested in time and must be abandoned. Looking at the plums dyeing the garden red, Mr. Hua feels heartbroken. "The road is wet by the rain, it has eaten all the plums in our village" - he laments: the plums at the beginning of the season can still be sold for about 3,000-4,000 VND/kg, but in the middle of the season, you can only get back 500-1,000 VND/kg. That is why more than 20 hectares of three-flower plums in Muong Long commune have not brought about the high economic efficiency as expected.
Unable to do anything, the staff and the people looked for new crops and livestock to support the plum trees, although like the plum trees, all agricultural products did not have easy outlets. Along with the plum trees, the people were instructed to plant ginger, peaches, taro, tea, and raise red ants. Mr. Hua's family also planted persimmons. The 300 persimmon trees bearing fruit in the first season made him happy, but he did not know who to sell them to.
In Muong Long, the reality shows that raising livestock seems to be more economically efficient than growing crops. This year in particular, the model of raising black chickens is being replicated throughout the commune. The district supports money to buy chicken breeds and provides technical guidance. Chickens raised for 6 months can be sold. Locally, the selling price is 80,000 VND/kg. This model has initially brought economic efficiency to the people compared to growing plums. The total number of chickens in the commune is currently about 14,000.
According to Mr. Vu Chia Chu - Vice Chairman of Muong Long Commune, the cow raising model is the most sustainable and effective. The Farmers' Association stands up to lend money to the people from the bank. Each household can borrow 5 to 10 million to develop livestock. The whole commune has now developed a herd of nearly 3,000 cows. The cows are raised in concentrated pens and are relatively easy to sell.
Muong Long today. |
Muong Long is called the gate to heaven of Western Nghe An. Muong Long is perched on a high mountain peak. Looking down from the gate to heaven, the small winding roads are nestled in the middle of a rocky valley. The road to the gate to heaven is winding and winding. During foggy times, the gate to heaven is blurred in a milky white color, raising your hand high gives the feeling of touching the clouds. But through the gate to heaven, the clouds are still very far away. On Muong Long's journey out of poverty, the distance between reality and dreams is often the same: it is easy to see the destination, but touching it is another matter. Saying goodbye to Muong Long, we can only hope that the people will soon have the day when they can not only touch the warmth and prosperity, but also hold it firmly in their hands, just like when we held our hands on the gate to heaven and pulled the clouds into our eyes.
Article and photos: Phuoc Thao
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