Tam Thai Market

(Baonghean) - With a favorable location, backing Lam River, facing National Highway 7, invested in construction with a budget of 7 billion VND and completed in 2009, but for more than 5 years, Tam Thai market has not been in operation. Unable to let a billion-dollar project "hang around", the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district stepped in to organize a "market session"...

Overview of Tam Thai market in the first session, September 14.

Happy first session

From the morning of September 14, 2014, the first session of Tam Thai market was bustling with people coming and going. Motorbikes, bicycles, and cars filled the entire yard outside the market. Cheerful flags, banners, slogans, signs introducing the market plan, brands... were hung all over the fences. The voices of sellers and buyers exchanging, the loudspeakers introducing the market plan, the typical products of the region, and incentives for businesses registering. All of these resonated to create a bustling, joyful atmosphere.

The market is a priority place for stalls of 7 communes along Highway 7 to display and introduce products. The majority of people in Tam Thai commune are from the market, with agricultural products such as corn, rice, green squash, pumpkin, fresh bamboo shoots, dried bamboo shoots, pickled bamboo shoots, mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, etc. and pork, beef, chicken, river fish; in addition, there are cakes made from sticky corn, mooc, and rice wine. The area of ​​Thach Giam commune also has many products, with some notable valuable agricultural products such as chayote shoots, cucumbers, persimmons, pumpkins, and upland melons. In Luu Kien commune, the main products are forged products such as machetes, rice cutting knives, sharp knives, slicing knives, and grass cutting knives. Meanwhile, Xa Luong commune focuses on fruits such as sweet eggplants and lemons. The communes of Tam Dinh, Tam Quang, Tam Hop, etc. also have a large number of people coming to the market, displaying and selling agricultural products and bamboo and rattan products made by their own families. Tam Thai market also has a lot of ready-made clothes, mats, bamboo mats, groceries brought by locals from Do Luong, Anh Son... and forest plant varieties of the district forestry company.

In the market atmosphere, Mrs. Kha Thi Hong (Na Tong village, Tam Thai), selling fresh bamboo shoots, enthusiastically invited: "The bamboo shoots are fresh and cheap, everyone should buy them". Then happily: "The bamboo shoots are grown by my family from the project of the Provincial Settlement and Cultivation Board. Before, we imported them for traders, or sold them on the move along National Highway 7. When the district opened the market, the commune encouraged my family to come and sell them. If the market was always this crowded, I would love it...". The brocade and xa tich stall (a type of jewelry for highland women) of Mrs. Luong Thi Lan (Met village, Thach Giam) attracted many people to see and buy. Mrs. Lan has sold 6 sets of xa tich, and a few brocade pieces. Mrs. Lan said: Xa tich was ordered from Thai Binh, the brocade was woven by my family. In Met village, I also have a stall at home. I heard that Tam Thai opened a market, so I registered to try selling. This first session, I was happy because I sold my goods. With this advantage, every time it's my turn, I come back here to sell...". The blacksmith stalls of the people of Luu Thong and Xoong Con villages of Luu Kien commune had a lot of buyers. Ms. Luong Thi Long - Vice President of the Women's Union of the commune smiled brightly: Now I have to go back to get more. I thought I would introduce a few dozen sets, but unexpectedly they were all sold out. According to Ms. Long, Luu Kien commune has the traditional blacksmithing profession of the Thai people, and the people in the area all know about it, so as soon as it was displayed, people came to buy. The sweet eggplant specialty of Xa Luong commune also attracted a lot of customers. The forest tree seed stall of Tuong Duong Forestry Company also had a lot of people looking and buying. The Forestry Company displayed varieties of red sưa, xoan đào, xoan ta, béo, mét, and Tuong Duong grafted mango. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien, an officer of the company, said: Our idea is to introduce the products so that people can recognize the valuable forest tree varieties. But there were already many people looking and buying...". At the ready-made garment stall of Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyen - a citizen of Dinh Son commune (Anh Son), there were many people looking and trying on clothes. Ms. Tuyen has a light truck, for many years she has transported garments along National Highway 7, or to remote villages to sell to people. She said: "Now it is the season change so people mainly look and rarely buy. However, I have registered to sell steadily at Tam Thai market. Hopefully the market will be maintained like the first session...".

Many people come to the market to buy goods and express their wish that the market be maintained. Ms. Luong Thi Hoa, living in Chung Yen village, Tam Dinh commune, nearly 9 km from Tam Thai market, came to visit the market "because I heard that it would be fun to have a market." Ms. Hoa said: Tam Dinh does not have a market. Whenever needed, I have to go to Khe Bo market, nearly 10 km from my house, or all the way to Hoa Binh market. If Tam Thai market can be maintained, Tam Dinh people will have a place to sell products and buy necessary items...".

Brocade stalls at Tam Thai market.

Not yet worried

Looking at the bustling scene of the first market, all the officials of Tam Thai commune were "happy". Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, young intellectual Vi Viet Kieu said: "Following the direction of the district, the commune has focused on cleaning and redecorating the market for the past 15 days; assigned the association organizations to continuously propagate to the people. They did it very thoughtfully but were still worried. Today, seeing the crowded sellers and buyers, I feel very secure. For several years, seeing the market with only 4-5 stalls made me feel heartbroken. Hopefully, in the future, the market will be able to operate...".

The joy mixed with the concerns of Vice Chairman Vi Viet Kieu commune completely comes from reality and this is also the sentiment of the officials of Tuong Duong district. Tam Thai market was newly built to meet standards with a budget of 7 billion VND, but for more than 5 years it has not been able to be promoted. To "renew" Tam Thai market, Tuong Duong district has decided to replace the commune government to organize a market, 2 days a month (14-15 lunar calendar). The district has directed 7 communes along National Highway 7 and Hoa Binh town to mobilize business households and people with self-produced products to sell, to propagate to the people to come to the market to buy goods; support money for transporting goods and gasoline for travel. In addition, businesses in the province, neighboring districts, and the area are invited to bring goods to participate. The Department of Industry and Trade coordinates with the Cultural Center to conduct mobile broadcasting, and continuously inform on commune radio stations until the market opens. Closing the first day of Tam Thai market, Mr. Nguyen Van Thang - Deputy Head of Tuong Duong Industry and Trade Department said: "After the first day, the results were very positive. With this momentum, the next market session will definitely have more goods. Seeing everyone excited, we still cannot rest assured because in fact, the results of the first session were due to the impact of authorities at all levels. Only when going to the market becomes a habit of the people will it be truly successful...". According to the plan, Tuong Duong district will continue to host the Tam Thai market for 3-5 months. "We will invite businesses from the province, neighboring districts, and the area to open agencies; continue to direct the communes and focus on propaganda to create a strong impression of Tam Thai market among the people..." - Mr. Thang said.

Despite its beautiful location and large investment in construction, Tam Thai market is located between Khe Bo market and Hoa Binh town, which are long-standing commercial centers of Tuong Duong, so it is difficult to operate without reasonable business promotion plans. Attending the first market session, we saw that although Tuong Duong district did not participate early, this was truly a commendable effort. And hopefully, Tam Thai market will be "destined" to attract buyers and sellers to become a bustling commercial center.

Article and photos:Nhat Lan