'Locomotive' in Cha Lau village
“Chief of Cha Lau village? - “The leader” in the team of village cadres in our commune, dynamic, creative, daring to think, daring to do…”, Comrade Sam Van Thanh - Secretary of the Party Committee of Nam Giai border commune said so when we asked about Mr. Vi Van Ky, born in 1989 - a typical good economist chosen to speak at the Congress of Ethnic Minorities of Que Phong district in 2024.
Determined to get rich in the homeland
Visiting the spacious stilt house of Mr. Vi Van Ky at almost noon, in the harsh sunlight, we still saw the young village chief running back and forth urging the completion of the flagpole on the inner village bridge area.
It is known that this is a project to celebrate National Day September 2.
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Taking the opportunity to lead visitors around the village's constructions, the "leader" of Cha Lau village, Vi Van Ky, also "opened his heart" about his journey of establishing a career associated with the people's and village's work in his hometown.
Born and raised in a village by the Nam Giai River, sometimes as gentle as a silk strip, sometimes as raging as a flood, after finishing high school, Thai ethnic boy Vi Van Ky did not go far away to work like his peers, but chose to stay in the village to develop the family economy based on the potential strengths of the locality.
As a young man with many ambitions, at the age of 18, Ky was honored to join the Party. At that time, he was the youngest party member of Cha Lau village and was the Secretary of the village Youth Union. Later, he was elected by the villagers as the Village Chief when he was only 25 years old.
Understanding that people in the highlands are still hesitant to approach new things, and must "see and hear" to believe and follow, young "leader" Vi Van Ky always sets an example in developing household economy; at the same time, working closely with the Party cell and the village management board to propagate and mobilize people to expand production, actively change the structure of crops and livestock to improve product quality and productivity.
He himself started his entrepreneurial journey by learning from experience, applying science and technology, accessing loans to invest in building a comprehensive livestock farm with an increasingly expanding scale. From a few animals, up to now, the family of Village Chief Vi Van Ky has 30 buffaloes and cows raised in the Huoi Ot area, 10 goats, and several hundred black chickens.
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With the advantage of youth, he learned on the internet and attended many training courses on livestock farming techniques without using growth-promoting feed to minimize diseases. At the same time, he proactively planted clean grasses (elephant grass, jellyfish grass, lemongrass, giant tea...) to use as feed for livestock, so his family's livestock grew well.
Along with livestock farming, with 6 hectares of forest land, Mr. Vi Van Ky's family focuses on growing acacia trees mixed with 800 cinnamon trees, bringing in a stable source of income.
Besides, with his youthful strength and daring spirit, Chief of Cha Lau village Vi Van Ky boldly converted more than 800m2 of ineffective rice land to intercropping vegetables and watermelon to suit the local weather.
In the summer, when the sun is strong, he grows red watermelon; then he grows a crop of corn near Tet, and when it's cold, he switches to growing vegetables (cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage...).
He also invested in installing a modern automatic irrigation system to grow watermelons and vegetables; and dug ponds to raise grass carp and tilapia... Each year, after deducting expenses, he earns more than 150 million VND.
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In line with the local green economic development model, in 2023, Village Chief Vi Van Ky boldly registered to build a new rural standard garden. With efforts to change the irrigation system, improve soil quality and reasonable planning, his family's garden has now been recognized as a standard garden.
In early 2024, with support of 30 million VND from the District Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee, Village Chief Vi Van Ky pioneered the investment in building barns to pilot the breeding of sika deer. Up to now, the deer herd is adapting and developing well.
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Through market research, realizing that the native black chicken breed is popular, Village Chief Vi Van Ky boldly established and became the leader of the first black chicken breeding group in Cha Lau village with a scale of 3 households, each household has more than 300 chickens (breeding source supported by the Provincial Farmers' Association). Up to now, nearly 900 chickens have been released to the market in one batch, which is very popular with consumers.
Income from farming and raising livestock helps the family of Village Chief Vi Van Ky expand their scale, invest in reproduction, build spacious houses, and even buy expensive cars to serve their daily needs.
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"The most important thing is to build a sustainable livestock model through product quality, environmental sanitation and to regularly learn techniques and experiences to apply appropriately to practical conditions, especially in disease prevention. In addition, actively apply social networks to introduce, promote, and ensure a stable output market for plants and animals" - Mr. Vi Van Ky shared.
Dedicated to the people's work and the local affairs
Busy with economic development, but Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell, Head of Cha Lau Village Vi Van Ky does not neglect "people's affairs, village affairs". All big and small tasks in the village have the presence, direction and companionship of the young village chief.
Anyone who wants to learn about farming and animal husbandry will be enthusiastically guided by him.
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Cha Lau has 57 households and 241 people. Currently, many villagers have learned from the village chief to raise livestock and plant forests. The whole village currently has 60 hectares of acacia, each household has an average of 3-4 hectares.
People have also boldly invested in large-scale livestock farming instead of small-scale farming as before. The whole village currently has 220 buffaloes and cows, of which several households raise more than 20 buffaloes and cows.
In 2022, Cha Lau village had 4 households escape poverty, by 2023, the village had 3 more households escape poverty, of which two households voluntarily applied to leave poverty, namely Mr. Ha Van Hoach and Mr. Loc Van Vinh.
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In addition to actively propagating and mobilizing people to proactively develop the economy and escape poverty, Deputy Secretary of the Party Cell and Head of the Village Vi Van Ky has worked with the Party Cell and the Village Management Board to carry out "skillful mass mobilization", thereby promoting people's strength to build new rural areas. Up to now, people have contributed more than 800m2land, 500 working days, 75 million VND for the construction of New Rural Areas.
In 2023 alone, Cha Lau village will concretize 210 m of branch roads, install 20 street lights, and build a permanent flagpole at Khe Mot bridge. At the same time, people will be mobilized to contribute working days to support leveling and pouring foundations to build prefabricated houses supported by the Ministry of Public Security for 6 disadvantaged households in the village.
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Discussing future plans, the "locomotive" of Cha Lau village, Vi Van Ky, pondered: "To sustainably eliminate poverty and retain workers in the locality, there must be stable economic models with linkages along the commodity chain. Therefore, I cherish the idea of investing in an incubator to serve the livestock needs of the people, thereby expanding the scale of professional livestock associations in the area."
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