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 side job, they consider this a main source of income, covering all expenses for all family activities and getting rich.

The broom craft 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, forming 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 craft 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 to weave brooms to earn extra income. Thanks to their hard work, each month, his family earns 18 million VND. After deducting the cost of raw materials, his family also has 6 million VND to cover the family's living expenses and raise 4 children to study. Mr. Trinh said: This job does not require much labor, 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 broom weaving, his family has risen from a poor household to a well-off one 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 harvest days 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 the 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 brings to the market about 15 thousand brooms. Many families were initially poor, but thanks to the craft, they have escaped poverty and have the conditions to build houses, buy household appliances, 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 people here lack is capital. Households with capital buy raw materials to save for rainy and windy days. 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 part of their family income.

Although it has been recognized as a provincial craft village for 6 years now, the craft village is operating in a "everyone does it their own way" manner. 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 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 stand on 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