Removing difficulties for Hoa Hai broom making village

(Baonghean.vn) -In recent times, the broom making profession has been introduced and established in Hoa Hai hamlet, Chau Hoi commune (Nghia Dan) and has brought a significant source of income to the people. From a sideline job, they consider this a main source of income, covering all expenses for family activities and getting rich.

The broom making village of Hoa Hai (Hoa Hai hamlet, Nghia Hoi commune, Nghia Dan district) began to form in 1967. At that time, most of the people here were originally from the plains and settled here. Due to the small amount of farmland, people's lives were extremely difficult. Seeing that the broom plants growing around the mountains and forests but not being exploited, people immediately brought them back to make brooms to sell. At first, only a few households did it, but thanks to the high economic efficiency, dozens of households in the hamlet learned from each other and formed a profession. Up to now, out of 124 households in Hoa Hai hamlet, 98 households have participated in the craft village. In 2007, the broom making village of Hoa Hai was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a provincial-level craft village. And up to now, this is also the only provincial-level craft village in Nghia Dan district.

Mr. Pham Van Trinh's family is one of the families that sticks to the profession and has really changed their lives since joining the craft village. The family only has 1 sao of rice field, and it only takes about 1 month to grow 2 rice crops a year. The rest of the time, the couple and their children just stay home and weave brooms to earn extra income. Thanks to their hard work, each month, his family earns 18 million VND. After deducting the cost of materials, his family also has 6 million VND to cover the family's living expenses and send 4 children to school. Mr. Trinh said: This profession does not require much labor, and the children in the family can also help their parents when they have free time. Every day, the family weaves 35 brooms, and every 5 days I transport the brooms to import to the booths and agents in neighboring districts such as Dien Chau, Quynh Luu and the whole Thanh Hoa area.

Like Trinh's family, Pham Van Tuat's family is getting better off thanks to the broom weaving business. The family only has 300 square meters of rice land, enough to provide food for the couple and their three children. But thanks to the broom weaving business, his family has risen from a poor household to a well-off household in the village. Every day, all five members of the family work hard to weave brooms until 9 pm before resting. "This job is not difficult, as long as you are diligent and hardworking, your income will be stable. In a year, except for the harvest season and when raw materials are scarce, my family works for about 9 months. Each month, my family earns about 6 million VND. On sunny days, my family buys raw materials from Quy Chau and Que Phong districts, dries them, and stores them in a warehouse to make them when it rains. But if the weather rains too much, the brooms cannot be dried, so they get moldy, making the product lose value or become harder to sell," said Tuat.

Every year, the broom weaving village of Hoa Hai produces about 15,000 brooms. Many families were initially poor, but thanks to the craft, they have escaped poverty and have the means to build houses, buy household items, and take care of their children's education. Mr. Nguyen Cong Truc, Secretary and hamlet chief of Hoa Hai hamlet, said: The appearance of Hoa Hai hamlet has changed significantly in the past 10 years thanks to the broom weaving craft. Without this craft, about 1/3 of the households in the hamlet would be poor. In 2011, the State invested more than 2 billion VND to build roads to serve production and trade for households in the craft village. But what the people here lack is capital. Households with capital buy raw materials to save for rainy and windy weather. But other households do not know how to manage. They have to borrow raw materials from other households and then pay them back after selling the products, which has reduced their family income somewhat.

Although it has been recognized as a provincial craft village for 6 years, the craft village is operating on its own. Currently, the craft village has not yet established an official craft village management board. This causes difficulties in managing the craft village, accessing support policies from the State, searching for and exchanging markets, etc. The development of the craft village is not synchronous, lacks planning and lacks long-term orientation. Mr. Pham Van Hao, Head of the temporary craft village management board, said: The failure to establish an official craft village management board is causing many difficulties for production households. Households in the craft village currently do not have an organization to sponsor them, and cannot access preferential policy capital sources. Production households have not yet created links in production and consumption.

Therefore, what needs to be done is to organize a congress soon to elect households who are passionate about the craft to join the Management Board to represent the craft village to access preferential capital sources from the State and find markets. Only then can the broom craft village of Hoa Hai develop sustainably, bringing a prosperous life to the people.

Pham Bang