Que Phong strives to escape poverty

(Baonghean) - Striving to rise from a poor district, a particularly difficult border district of the province, in recent years, the socio-economic situation of Que Phong district has had many positive changes. In particular, the district has successfully implemented many projects and programs to support production and economic development, helping thousands of households to have jobs, improve income, and improve the quality of life.

Visiting the clean vegetable growing model in Don Cham village, Muong Noc commune, stopping at a household vegetable garden, Ms. Vi Thi Thanh (household owner) said: Starting from the winter crop of 2015, implementing the policy of Que Phong district, her family tried to renovate and turn a 2,000 m2 field into a large garden specializing in growing clean vegetables, tubers and fruits. The first year of testing showed that the crops were suitable for the soil and climate conditions, so they grew well, were not harmed by pests and diseases, and brought the family an income of nearly 20 million VND...

Harvesting vegetables in Don Cham village, Muong Noc commune. Photo: Thu Huong.

Don Cham is a Thai village. Previously, the vegetable growing land used to grow rice but the harvest was poor so it was left fallow. After carefully studying the climate and soil conditions, following the general direction of the district, the village integrated funding sources from programs and projects, in which the new rural area was the main source to promote vegetable growing to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty. At this time, the entire Don Cham village had 32 households registered in the district's agricultural production and service cooperative to participate in the clean vegetable growing model.

Initially, Que Phong district invested in seeds, techniques, built a 20m3 water tank system, irrigation taps, a 1,000m electric wire system and protective fences for vegetable gardens to ensure an area of ​​over 32,000m2, creating conditions for households in Don Cham village to grow clean vegetables, including kohlrabi, cabbage, mustard greens, green beans, cucumbers, etc. As a result, after the first harvest, the new model was assessed to have developed well, with economic efficiency 3 times higher than rice cultivation. Currently, the district has taken the initiative to consume clean vegetable products for people through booths displaying and introducing typical products of the district, supplying the needs of restaurants, boarding schools or customers inside and outside the district, etc.

In Chau Kim commune, there is a biosafety chicken farming model that is also considered a model for ethnic minorities in Que Phong district to learn and follow; with 5 participating households, a scale of 1,000 chickens, after 4 months of raising, the average weight of chickens when sold reached 2kg/chicken (the old raising method reached 1.5 - 1.7 kg/chicken); the survival rate reached 93%, higher than the traditional raising method (only reaching 20 - 25%).

The new farming model helps farmers earn much more than traditional farming (reaching 33.7 million VND/1,000 pigs, while mass farming only reaches 6.95 million VND/1,000 pigs). In Tien Phong commune, there is a biosafety pig farming model with 5 households participating in raising 50 pigs, using crossbred pigs (Mong Cai crossbred with Yorshire, Landace). After 4 months of raising, the weight of the pigs when sold reached 88 kg/pig (the old method reached 70 - 75 kg/pig); the survival rate reached 100%...

The outstanding effectiveness of livestock models not only increases people's income, provides safe products for consumers, changes people's awareness towards ensuring food safety and hygiene, does not cause environmental pollution... but also creates conditions for farmers to exchange, learn, share experiences to get rich together. After completing the model, households can expand the scale, develop livestock towards meat and reproduction...

Harvesting sugarcane in Que Son commune. Photo: Thu Huong.

In particular, taking advantage of the available potential, currently, two types of trees, yellow tea flowers in Dong Van commune and bon bo trees in Nam Nhoong and Chau Thon communes, are considered to have high potential, helping people escape poverty sustainably; with the price of 3 - 4 million VND/kg of dried yellow tea flowers or nearly 500,000 VND/kg of fresh flowers; 20,000 - 30,000 VND/kg of dried bon bo seeds.

In particular, in early 2015, the People's Committee of Que Phong district coordinated with Nghe An Forestry Consulting Center to launch the project "Building a model for conservation, development and sustainable use of bon bo trees based on the community, contributing to biodiversity conservation". Currently, the model is deployed on an area of ​​54 hectares, including 14 hectares of newly planted trees, 40 hectares of protected and supplemented bon bo trees under the canopy of natural forests. According to calculations, with concentrated protected and protected areas, each year the income is from 30 - 60 million VND/ha.

According to statistics, Que Phong district currently has 843 types of medicinal plants (out of a total of 962 types of medicinal plants in Nghe An). The goal of preserving and developing medicinal plants to become a spearhead of economic development has been included in the Resolution of the 21st District Party Congress, term 2015 - 2020. And most recently, a project to preserve and develop medicinal plants with high economic value has been developed. Accordingly, the planning for growing medicinal plants is divided into 3 regions based on soil characteristics: The central region (Muong Noc, Chau Kim, Que Son, Tien Phong) focuses on developing cardamom; the Southwest region (Quang Phong, Cam Muon, Chau Thon, Nam Nhoong, Nam Giai and Tri Le) focuses on expanding bon bo and nhan tran trees; the Northwest region (Thong Thu, Dong Van and Hanh Dich) focuses on developing yellow flower tea and codonopsis. The district will coordinate with agricultural and forestry technical centers to research and breed seedlings from mother trees to ensure good adaptability to local natural and climatic conditions.

In Que Phong, there are still many other economic models, programs and projects, contributing to helping people increase their income, improve their lives, and strive to complete poverty reduction targets. In 2016, in terms of cultivation, on an area of ​​4,407 hectares of wet rice cultivation, farmers in the whole district harvested 22,342 tons (yield of 50.7 quintals/ha); upland rice reached 719 tons/360 hectares; vegetables reached 1,144 tons/209 hectares; sugarcane reached 4,720 tons/70 hectares...

Regarding livestock, the total herd of buffaloes and cows reached 33,794, pigs 29,503; goats 3,479, poultry 316,830, aquaculture area 232 ha, fish cage farming 97 cages... Regarding forestry development, the work of zoning, protection, care and planting forests was well organized and implemented; the area of ​​newly planted concentrated forests reached 1,100 ha; the area of ​​scattered planted forests reached 35 ha; zoning 14,300 ha of regenerated forests and contracting out forest protection for 98,558 ha... The whole district has 21 comprehensive agricultural service cooperatives; 351 farms and family farms. The economy continues to develop, the growth rate in the area is estimated at 7%; the budget revenue in the area increased by 19.91% compared to the plan; the average income per capita is estimated at 20.28 million VND; The poverty rate decreased by 4.43% (according to multidimensional poverty standards)...

“Promoting the achievements, in 2017, Que Phong district sets out directions and tasks including focusing on removing difficulties, creating favorable conditions for production and business development, striving for a higher growth rate than the previous year, on the basis of promoting economic restructuring; ensuring social security goals, improving people's lives, continuing to reduce the poverty rate by 4-5% compared to 2016; continuing to implement the goal of curbing inflation, stabilizing the socio-economy; increasing efficiency and sustainability in all fields, especially in the production sector to ensure a solid improvement in the quality of people's lives; raising the average income for people to 21.3 million VND/year...”, said comrade Le Van Giap - Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Que Phong district.

Thu Huong