Lesson 2: When party members go first

Faced with barren hills full of weeds, narrow muddy roads, and the "resigned" mentality of the people, the Party Committee and local authorities determined that "we cannot wait or rely on others" but must strive to find a way out of poverty. After much concern and struggle, and promoting collective intelligence, the conversion of crop structure and the introduction of industrial tea to Hung Son land was determined. The Party's intention was there and became a resolution, but how to make the people understand was a difficult problem.

With the motto "Party members go first, the village follows", the local government mobilized cadres and party members from commune to hamlet to pioneer in receiving land to grow tea. Initially, the land was small, a few hectares, then increased to several dozen, several hundred hectares. When seeing the lush tea fields and tea hills, the people understood that their homeland's land was not barren and was very suitable for tea trees.

So they competed to receive land and forests to grow industrial tea. We were suggested by the Party Secretary of the commune, Tran Duc Chau, to take us on a tour to see the nearly 1,000-hectare tea and acacia hills running along the 20-km belt surrounding the commune, which he called the "wealthy belt". Looking at the endless green tea hills, few people know the hard work of the first people to reclaim the land.

Secretary Chau, who was then the Commune Chairman, had to take the lead with the commune cadres, leading by example in reclaiming land to grow tea. The commune cadres also recalled Mr. Chau's half-joking, half-serious statement at that time: "State-paid cadres, if you do not grow tea, please write your own resignation letter." At the "wealthy belt", we also had the chance to "witness" the large premises of the farmer secretary, including 1.8 hectares of tea, 7 hectares of acacia, 3 hectares of rattan, in addition to fish ponds, buffaloes, cows and food crops.

After many years of struggling with wild forests and bare hills, reclaiming land for cultivation, building dams to retain water... now, the income from industrial tea gives his family a fairly comfortable and prosperous life, all 3 children have gone to university. Quickly wiping the sweat from his face in the midday sun, he said: "When we first started planting tea, people were still skeptical about its success. As a cadre, I had to do it first, and only when I saw the results did people follow. The happiest thing is that now, everyone is attached to tea. Life has improved a lot."

Another equally famous "pioneer general" in Hung Son is the commune chairman Vo Van Hien. Mr. Hien's family also owns 0.3 hectares of rattan, 1.5 hectares of tea and 3 hectares of acacia. He confided: "I tell my brothers, if we fail, the cadres will fail, not the people. In general, the cadres must take the lead. Even when expanding the tea growing area or planting rattan, the cadres must jump in and accept it first. The tea of ​​the cadres and their families must be better and have higher productivity, only then will the people believe and follow...". After many years of working with tea, Hung Son now has 427.6 hectares of industrial tea, with last year's tea bud output reaching 2,800 tons, bringing in an income of 8.4 billion VND for farmers.

In addition, the whole commune has 513 hectares of acacia forests for paper production, which have been harvested and worth nearly 6 billion VND. The good and creative thing about the commune government here is that it has found a method of caring for tea trees to develop sustainably, giving high-quality productivity while reducing input costs for local tea growers. To do this, the Party Committee and the government have proactively coordinated with Hung Son Tea Enterprise to open training courses to transfer science and technology and allocate funds to support people in producing biological organic fertilizers for each household; assigning party members to directly "hold hands and show" households how to use agricultural waste to produce their own biofertilizers and tea seeds for growing, without having to buy them from outside.

From a few households, up to now, the whole commune has 140 households making biofertilizer, producing over 350 tons, worth 700 million VND. Biofertilizer is not only used to fertilize tea plants but also enough to fertilize other food crops. The ponds and lakes are also "thoroughly" utilized, growing rice during the low water season, raising fish during the high water season, and at the same time retaining water to keep the tea plants moist.

Along with the development of industrial tea, Resolution 03 of the Party Committee of Anh Son district "On mobilizing farmers to continue converting land" really created momentum for the "land consolidation and plot exchange revolution" in Hung Son. The alluvial land area on the Lam River bank is inherently small and is divided into many pieces, making farming efficiency not high. Therefore, to change the crop structure and bring mechanization into production, the first thing to do is to do a good job of "land consolidation and plot exchange". The good thing here is that in the planning work, the commune clearly and early identified which areas are suitable for growing which crops and the benefits after conversion. The people's questions were explained thoroughly and clearly in the spirit of democracy, ensuring publicity. The commune also advocated giving the good land to the people, and the commune took over the management of the bad land... Thanks to that, the land consolidation and plot exchange work in Hung Son was completed 6 months ahead of schedule. The average number of agricultural plots decreased from 5.6 plots/household to 1.8 plots/household, a decrease of 2,324 plots. The entire 14 km long intra-field traffic route has been planned, repaired and renewed, the road width has been widened from 6 - 10m, creating favorable conditions for people in production.

Mr. Thai Doan Huu - Standing Deputy Secretary of Anh Son District Party Committee said: The strong change in Hung Son is due to the high determination of the Party Committee and the government, and the consensus of the people in transforming and developing the local economy. The important thing is not only that the cadres and party members are exemplary in taking the lead in "speaking the truth, doing the truth", but also that they are also the ones directly involved in production, so they are close to the people, understand the people, and are simple in every word and action.

The entire Party Committee has 11 members, all 11 of whom participate in tea planting. After work, they are farmers on the tea hills and in the fields, so there is almost no distance between the cadres and the people. In addition to being dynamic and creative, the Party Committee and the Hung Son government also make good use of the Party and State's policies and guidelines to benefit the people. For example, regarding the State's policy of supporting the renovation of small ponds and dams, the whole district has 21 communes and towns, but only Hung Son has implemented this policy. Thanks to that, the whole commune has renovated 51 ponds and lakes with a support level of 18 - 20 million VND, both developing the economy and having a source of water for irrigation for the raw tea area... All policies and guidelines of the Party and the State on religious work in the area have also been implemented, creating consensus and synergy between the government and the people, especially the people in religious areas.

This has been proven, because when we left Hung Son, the parishioners of Dong Tram parish were excited to invite us back to attend the inauguration ceremony of the parish church, which had been granted a construction permit by the government. With a church right in the area, the parishioners of Dong Tram no longer have to struggle to cross the river or take a ferry to attend church services in Duc Son and Tuong Son like before. Soon, the Do Rang bridge across the Lam River connecting Hung Son to the other side will also be completed, permanently ending the "island" status of this land. With the efforts and solidarity of the parishioners and the government here, we believe that Hung Son will continue to have an even greater breakthrough.

Thanh Duy - Khanh Ly