'Plant one more tree, raise one more animal to make the Chau Binh red rock area greener'

Waking up Huoi Ca

Located 5 km south of Chau Binh commune center, Do 3 village is home to 131 Thai people. This used to be the “poor core” of the once famous red rock land.

We went to Do 3 village with the companionship of the Party Secretary of Lo Van Phuong village. On the wide road leading to the village, witnessing the large trucks lining up to transport dozens of tons of industrial glue from Huoi Ca mountain to the raw material gathering areas, Mr. Phuong could not help but be proud: "The dead land of Huoi Ca has truly revived".

It can be said that the revival of Huoi Ca started from the determination to escape poverty of young party member Vi Thanh Hieu. The entrepreneurial journey of this young man born in 1985 was marked in 2007, when he completed his military service and returned to his hometown. At that time, Huoi Ca was a vast but barren mountainous area with reeds taller than a person. No one in the village had ever thought of opening a comprehensive farm in that barren land.

As the only family representing Nghe An to be recognized as a "Typical Young Family" nationwide in 2020 by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union, Vi Thanh Hieu and his wife have long been considered by the Thai people in Do 3 village, Chau Binh commune (Quy Chau) as a shining example of their determination to escape poverty and build a new life in the locality.

Starting with the thought: "Plant one more tree, raise one more animal to make the Chau Binh red rock area greener", Mr. Vi Thanh Hieu and his wife overcame their circumstances to contribute to writing a new page about their homeland.

However, with his quick wit, Vi Thanh Hieu grasped the policy of building raw material areas for paper mills in the province, he quickly developed industrial acacia trees. He boldly borrowed capital from the policy bank to improve the land and invest in seedlings on an area of ​​5 hectares. At the same time, he built barns and maintained livestock with a total herd of 20 wild boars.

Thus, he gradually expanded the acacia cultivation area to 15 hectares, covering a corner of Huoi Ca hill and many neighboring forests and hills. With the method of alternating cropping and livestock farming, his farm almost every year had crops and livestock. In no time, the capital was recovered to pay off the bank loan, and from here his family gradually escaped poverty.

Mr. Vi Thanh Hieu is a shining example of local emulation movements. Each of his actions spreads a strong-willed example in Chau Binh land. Photo: NVCC

Thanks to that, in 2010, he was recognized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union as "Ethnic minority youth with good economic performance". In 2011, from the Secretary of the village Youth Union, he was elected as Deputy Secretary of the Chau Binh commune Youth Union and then took on the role of Chairman of the commune's Economic Development Youth Club a short time later.

As a leader in the Youth Union and a core party member in the Party cell, he and other organizations in the village actively promoted and mobilized people to participate in livestock training courses organized by the village and commune. To gain more knowledge, he studied and learned techniques... to apply to his family's model as well as to disseminate to many households in the village. Believing in his success, many party members in the Party cell and dozens of households in the village have worked together to build many models of industrial tree planting. According to statistics, the whole village currently has more than 350 hectares of acacia and fruit tree cultivation, 30 hectares of rice and vegetable cultivation and 4 hectares of aquaculture.

Exemplary in the new rural construction movement

The intra-village and inter-village roads in Do 3 village before 2013 were a real nightmare for the locals, especially on rainy days. Along with that, the road section through Na San stream seemed to be cut off and isolated every time the flood water rose. Good news came to the village in 2013 when the government supported cement, sand and gravel to help the locals build the road. The problem now was that upgrading and expanding the road required the villagers to donate a lot of residential land and garden land.

Mr. Vi Thanh Hieu's family donated more than 5,000 m2Residential land and production land for villagers to complete the road of Do 3 village. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Party cell and village meetings were held continuously, the purpose was to make people "understand" their thoughts and accept donating land to complete 4.5km of road according to the new criteria. At this time, Vi Thanh Hieu's family took the lead in donating more than 5,000 m²including pond land, garden land and hill land to serve the road construction work. At the Party cell and Youth Union meetings, he also stood up to propagate and mobilize people to overcome difficulties to donate land, contribute human and material resources. Thanks to that, after only a short time, the road was completed, contributing to changing the appearance of Do 3 village.

Mr. Vi Thanh Hieu's wife is Ms. Lo Thi Huong (born in 1989). She has been working as a population collaborator since 2015. At first, she encountered many difficulties due to the male-dominated ideology of the community. However, with the support of her husband and family, she spent most of her time going directly to each family in difficult circumstances and couples with only one child to talk, combine with counseling, explaining, and encouraging each family to only have 1-2 children to spend time taking care of and raising children well, and developing the family economy. Taking advantage of the activities of the village women's association, she persistently encouraged couples of childbearing age to only have 1-2 children, not to marry early, and not to marry incestuously.

The family of Mr. Vi Thanh Hieu and Ms. Lo Thi Huong is the only representative of Nghe An youth to be recognized as a "Typical Young Family" nationwide in 2020 by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Thanks to that, in the period from 2015 - 2020, the birth rate of Do 3 village has decreased significantly. If in the previous period there were more than 15 couples who broke their plans, now it has decreased by more than 70%, with only 4 households left.

Village chief Lang Van Truong said: “After many years of efforts, Do 3 village has changed a lot. To achieve that change, in addition to the timely guidance of the Party Committee and the government, the role of typical individuals such as Mr. Vi Thanh Hieu and Ms. Lo Thi Huong is extremely important. They have contributed to helping the people in general, and the youth force in the village in particular, gradually change their awareness to proactively develop production to escape poverty as well as build a new, more civilized and sustainable life”./.

Thanh Quynh