Economy

A 'leader' of farmers who excels at village affairs and community work.

Khanh Ly - Quynh An • May 1, 2025 10:01

Having been involved in the Farmers' Association for over 10 years, Ms. Lo Thi Linh (born in 1986), a Thai ethnic minority member and Head of the Farmers' Association branch in Bung Xat village, Chau Khe commune (Con Cuong district), has not only pioneered household economic development but also implemented many effective methods to transform her village…

Model formationcommunity building savings group

Lo Thi Linh, the "leader" of the farmers in Bung Xat village, welcomed us with a warm, genuine smile typical of people from the mountainous region. She shared that, having been born and raised in the village, she understands better than anyone the difficulties faced by people in the mountains.

Therefore, since 2012, when she was entrusted with the position of Head of the Farmers' Association in the village, she has always been concerned about how to improve the lives of the villagers and help more households escape poverty.

Driven by this concern, Ms. Lo Thi Linh strived to build a strong branch association, a truly reliable support for its members, while also developing solutions to help farmers develop their economy and achieve sustainable poverty reduction. First and foremost, she helped farmers change their way of thinking and working, and find sources of funding to support economic development.

Besides spending time meeting with each household and disseminating the Party and State's guidelines and policies, especially those related to agriculture, farmers, and rural areas, Lo Thi Linh, the "leader" of the Bung Xat village farmers, also helps villagers access policy bank loans to plant acacia trees, reforest, and build agroforestry models, with a total loan amount reaching 3.5 billion VND.

In addition, she also took the initiative to call on people to establish a fund for the Bung Xat village farmers' association to support disadvantaged families in purchasing livestock and seedlings.

Accordingly, each household contributes 100,000 VND per year across three groups. After three years, the fund from the three groups has reached 120 million VND. From this amount, each household can borrow up to 4 million VND without paying interest, and each year this fund helps up to 30 households borrow capital for production and livestock farming.

Along with savings and loan groups, the Bung Xat village Farmers' Association also built community-building savings and loan groups. Typical examples include a rattan and bamboo weaving export group and a brocade weaving group with 30 members divided into 10 groups (each group of 2-3 people) consisting of women with experience and skills in traditional brocade weaving in the village.

Each group is provided with one loom, and most members receive basic training through courses organized by the commune and district farmers' associations.

Besides farming and livestock raising, during their free time, the members take advantage of the opportunity to weave traditional ethnic clothing, bringing in an income of about 3-4 million VND per month.

This not only helps develop the household economy but also contributes to preserving and maintaining the traditional crafts of the Thai ethnic people.

Ms. Vi Thi Thuy, a member of the Bung Xat village Farmers' Association, said that the weaving group consists of 3 members. Thanks to regular training, they have a wide variety of designs, and the products they make are not enough to meet demand; customers come to their homes to pick them up.

Besides weaving, Ms. Thuy also borrowed capital from the farmers' association fund to raise chickens, 15 pigs, 4 cows, and cultivate 9 hectares of rice, leading to a stable life.

Mr. Kha Van Tam, Secretary of the Party Branch of Bung Xat village, said: Thanks to the dynamic and creative approaches of the village's Farmers' Association, led by Ms. Lo Thi Linh, the villagers have seen many changes in their way of thinking and doing things.

Especially in community-building savings groups, besides supporting each other in economic development, for some disadvantaged households, or households with few members due to young workers going away to work, leaving only the elderly and children, there is a shortage of labor. Every quarter, representatives of the group, together with the village management board, will call on everyone to contribute labor to help the household clear land, plant acacia trees, or harvest vegetables.

This contributes to strengthening solidarity within the community and fostering mutual support and compassion among branches and groups.

Efforts were made to open roads to the production area and bring electricity for lighting.

Bung Xat is a village located about 25 km from the center of Con Cuong district, comprising 191 households with 870 inhabitants, mainly of the Thai ethnic group.

According to local officials, transportation used to be extremely difficult; it was muddy when it rained and rough when it was sunny. The production area was particularly far from residential areas, making travel challenging.

Faced with this situation, in her role as the head of the Farmers' Association branch and the head of the village's Front Committee, Ms. Lo Thi Linh, together with the Party branch and the village management board, proposed to the commune to direct the implementation of a plan to concrete the village's roads.

With the government's support in providing cement, Ms. Linh and the village management board mobilized the villagers, primarily the farmers' association members, to enthusiastically participate in the road construction movement in the village.

In 2023, the entire village repaired and constructed 350 meters of concrete roads, and in 2024, they repaired and built over 300 meters. The villagers contributed labor and money for sand and gravel. To date, the road system in Bung Xat village is basically complete, with internal field roads wide enough for vehicles to travel on.

In addition, farmer "leader" Lo Thi Linh also mobilized members to upgrade and expand the road leading to the production area. Many farming households readily donated land for road construction.

For example, Mr. Vi Van Suu donated 400m2 of rice paddy land, Mr. Kha Van So donated 300m2, and Mr. Loc Quoc Mien donated 600m2 of agricultural land to expand the road leading to the production area.

Leading us on a tour of the farming and livestock models in the production area, 70-year-old Mr. Loc Quoc Mien happily shared that his family had been contracted to manage and protect 6 hectares of forest in the production area since 1992.

Initially, there were only a few households in this production area, but now there are 13 households engaged in both livestock farming and crop cultivation. Mr. Mien's household alone currently owns 5 hectares of acacia trees; 2 hectares of bamboo combined with raising cattle, chickens, and pigs; digging a pond for fish farming; and growing corn and rice.

"Previously, transporting acacia wood was difficult; sometimes we had to tie it up on rafts and let it float downstream to the collection point. That's why when Ms. Lo Thi Linh - Head of the Farmers' Association, Head of the Front Committee and the village management board - came to campaign for the opening of a road to the production area, my family donated 600 square meters."

"Many other households joined in, and as a result, during the harvest season, cars can now reach the area to transport forestry products..." - Mr. Loc Van Mien said.

Not stopping at just the roads, farmer "leader" Lo Thi Linh, along with the village management board, mobilized people to contribute funds to install nearly 300 streetlights, making it convenient for people to travel at night and contributing to ensuring security and order in the village.

In addition, she didn't hesitate to go door-to-door to encourage members to participate in the movement to plant trees along the roadsides and maintain the roads managed and protected by the Farmers' Association.

In a conversation with us, Ms. Lo Thi Linh shared that to gain the consensus of members and the people, she always seeks the opinions and support of the Party Committee and the village management board, while also practicing "saying and doing" in all movements and activities.

For example, recognizing that acacia and bamboo are key crops in the area, along with livestock farming, Ms. Lo Thi Linh actively planted over 4 hectares of acacia and 400 bamboo trees, and raised cattle, pigs, and chickens to support her life and increase her income. Many other households have also considered acacia and bamboo as long-term livelihood crops.

Thanks to effective community mobilization, the village of Bung Xat now has approximately 12,000 hectares of acacia trees and 700 hectares of eucalyptus trees. The entire village has about 1,200 pigs and 180 buffaloes and cows. Several farming households in the area have successfully developed integrated agroforestry models, such as the household of Lo Van Huong, who combines acacia and eucalyptus tree planting with breeding cattle, creating jobs for three permanent workers; or the integrated agroforestry model of raising breeding turtles by Mr. Kha Van Kim…

Currently, the impoverished village of Bung Xat has undergone many changes. By 2025, the entire village will have 25 poor households, a decrease of 8 households (24%) compared to 2024. In the two years 2023-2024, 15 farming households in the village escaped poverty thanks to loans, combined livestock farming, and the cultivation and harvesting of acacia and bamboo.

"In that transformation, the contributions of dynamic, creative, and dedicated female association officials who are close to the community and farmers, and who are skilled in grassroots mobilization, like Ms. Lo Thi Linh, were instrumental," said Cam Thi Nam, Chairwoman of the Chau Khe Commune Farmers' Association.