Milestones in the New Rural Development Program in Thai Hoa

(Baonghean) - To date, Thai Hoa is the first district-level unit in the province to be recognized by the Government as having achieved the new rural standard. This is a well-deserved result for the efforts of the entire Party committee, government, and people over the past five years, and also an honor for the entire province, creating momentum to continue implementing the National Target Program for building new rural areas in the future.

"60 days for the new rural development campaign"

Perhaps few localities have encouraged the participation of the entire population in building new rural areas with specific slogans and commands like "60 days of mobilization for building new rural areas" for each period, as in Thai Hoa.

Secretary of the Thai Hoa Town Party Committee, Le Tien Tri, visits the dairy farming model of Mr. Ho Sy Dieu, which yields high economic efficiency. Nghia Tien commune. Photo: Huu Nghia

The campaign's completion dates were set on important national and town holidays such as "60 days of rural road construction to commemorate National Day (September 2nd)", "60 days of new rural development to commemorate the town's founding day (May 10th)" or "60 days to achieve new rural development goals in 2015"... which truly created a widespread impact on the people.

Mr. Truong Cong Dam, a veteran from Yen My hamlet (Nghia My commune), who donated 102 square meters of garden land and 72 meters of built fence, shared: "If the roads are wide and the hamlet is beautiful, then our house will be beautiful too! The New Rural Development program is about building for the people to enjoy. Only by making positive contributions can we encourage other households to wholeheartedly participate."

Thanks to this encouragement, in a disadvantaged commune like Nghia My, during the 60-day campaign from April to June 2012, 218 households donated land totaling 18,030 m2, 503 m2 of built fences were voluntarily demolished by the people, a total length of 15,312 m of roads were widened and newly constructed, 8,315 m of roads were paved with crushed stone, and the people contributed 1,577 man-days of labor...

Not only the local people but also businesses in the area actively responded and participated, such as Lai Khai Company, which donated 100 million VND to level the ground and repair inter-communal roads. Mr. Nguyen Van Lai - Director of Lai Khai Company shared: "As a business located in the area, and a son of Nghia My commune, I always think I must contribute to helping the locality develop."

Similar to Nghia My commune, the new rural development campaigns have created a strong impact and widespread influence in Tay Hieu commune. Tay Hieu is also the only new rural commune that is slated to be selected to build a model, sustainable new rural commune meeting the criteria of Thai Hoa town.

Bau Sen Forest Park - the green lung of Thai Hoa town, seen from above. Photo: Sy Minh.

Take the weak "stimulus" quite a bit.

While many other localities chose economically prosperous and politically strong communes as pilot areas for the new rural development program to "build momentum," in Thai Hoa, the program was launched with the selection of weak communes and hamlets as pilot sites. In the presence of town leaders and leaders from neighboring communes, Nghia My commune, a weaker commune than others, officially took the lead in achieving the new rural development goals.

In the actual implementation of the new rural development program, besides the systematic approach in issuing resolutions, developing projects, and assigning responsibilities to leading officials, Nghia My commune also chose Long Thuong hamlet, the weakest of the 14 hamlets in the commune with a purely agricultural economy, mostly inhabited by the Tho ethnic group, and sparsely populated, as a pilot area.

Recess time for students at Nghia Hoa Commune Kindergarten (Thai Hoa Town). Photo: H. N

It can be said that, thanks to this unique and innovative implementation method, the communes of Thai Hoa town, which initially achieved an average of 5.2 criteria per commune after a review in 2010, have made a strong breakthrough. Nghia My commune, which was previously considered weak, became the first commune in Thai Hoa town to achieve the new rural development goals. By the end of 2014 and throughout 2015, the remaining five communes successively achieved all 19 new rural development criteria.

Many models to increase people's income.

During the period 2010-2015, despite limited resources, Thai Hoa town still allocated the maximum budget to the National Target Program for New Rural Development. Specifically, Thai Hoa town dedicated 75% of its total development investment budget to this program. From this, Thai Hoa town prioritized mechanisms to stimulate investment in economic models that increase people's income. Accordingly, the town provided 500 million VND annually to invest in and develop effective economic models such as dairy farming, lily cultivation, and orange cultivation. In addition, Thai Hoa town also entrusted 300 million VND through the Social Policy Bank and 200 million VND through the Farmers' Association for households to borrow for production development.

Leaders of the National Target Program Coordination Office for Building New Rural Areas held discussions with the people. Thai Hoa town discusses solutions to maintain the criteria for New Rural Development. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Thanks to this approach, many effective and economically efficient models and practices have emerged in localities across the region, such as the cultivation of vegetables and fruit trees, the planning of specialized production areas, and support for model development, including: the clean vegetable farming area in Co village (Nghia My commune), hamlet 7B (Nghia Thuan commune), the ornamental flower and plant cultivation model (Nghia Hoa commune), the cultivation of Quang Tien pink pomelo, PQ1 tangerine, Xa Doai orange, V2 orange, etc., contributing to the improvement of neglected gardens and increased income for the people.

To date, the entire town has 18 farms certified as meeting the standards according to Circular 27 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and one concentrated dairy farm of Vinamilk Vietnam Dairy Joint Stock Company with a scale of 2,700 cows. In addition, there are more than 50 various types of small-scale livestock farming models, contributing to job creation and increased income from agricultural production. As a result, the poverty rate decreased from 6.9% in 2010 (according to the old standard) to 2.23% in 2015. Average per capita income reached 30.1 million VND/person/year.

Mobilizing maximum resources towards integration into a civilized urban environment.

People in Nghia My commune (Thai Hoa town) participate in building a kindergarten. Photo: HN

In Thai Hoa town, the new rural development program has transformed the appearance of rural communes and suburban areas. The successful completion of the new rural development criteria has significantly contributed to narrowing the gap between rural and urban areas, fostering spatial and planning connectivity within the overall development of the town.

Following the innovative approach of Thai Hoa town, while simultaneously promoting the construction of new rural areas in the countryside, the inner-city wards also simultaneously pursued the movement to build civilized urban areas. During the period 2010-2015, despite facing many economic difficulties, Thai Hoa town mobilized over 2.3 trillion VND in investment under the National Target Program for building new rural areas. Of this, the people contributed 412.745 million VND, accounting for 18%.

For the sake of a noble cause, households in the communes have collectively donated 108,883 cubic meters of land for the construction of roads and social welfare facilities, and contributed 123,772 man-days of labor to serve the new rural construction projects. Their tireless efforts and dedication to a modernized suburban rural area, striving for rapid progress and meeting the requirements for integration into the urbanization process, are truly commendable.

Hong Son