Tuong Duong arouses the spirit of people rising up from poverty

Give rights to the less fortunate

The last time we met - when Mr. Lo Van T, the husband of Ms. Lo Thi Mui, who was then the Deputy Chief of Police of Xa Luong Commune, unfortunately died from a venomous snake bite - Ms. Lo Thi Mui in Xieng Huong village, Xa Luong commune had to struggle to raise 2 children alone, so life was full of difficulties. Now, when visiting her house with Village Chief Lu Van Thanh, it was clear that after 6 years, her spirit was stronger.

Talking to us, she could not hide her joy about her two grown children, the eldest having joined the army, the second having gone to work as a factory worker. That was the reason why Ms. Mui voluntarily wrote an application to be removed from the poor household status at the end of 2019.

According to Ms. Mui, in the past, when her children were young, she had to take care of them and earn a living by herself, so she was poor in many ways. There were times when the family did not have enough rice to eat, and it was very difficult. But now, like the first child who joined the army, "the State took care of it", the second child's monthly salary was sent to his mother, and the family was also supported with a cow for breeding... so she had to ask to escape poverty to strive. Asking to escape poverty also meant giving benefits to others who were in more difficult circumstances than her.

Diversified economic models help people escape poverty in Tuong Duong district. Photo: Archive

Similarly, Mr. Mong Van Hoan's family, also in Xieng Huong village, Xa Luong commune, was previously considered a poor household, partly because he himself had a serious illness, partly because he suffered from damage due to the 2018 flood, so the difficulties piled up. However, Mr. Huong's family has now been relocated, supported with breeding cows, two children work hard, have a steady monthly income in industrial parks, and have saved money to send home to their parents to build a house. Therefore, when he saw other households in the village in the same situation as him writing applications to be removed from poverty, he discussed it with his family and followed suit.

He shared: "Actually, every time I receive a subsidy, I feel embarrassed, so when the economy is stable, I ask to be removed from the poor household list to continue to strive to improve myself. I cannot stay poor forever."

From the poverty escape application of Ms. Mui and Mr. Hoan, up to now, the whole Xieng Huong village has had 17 households writing applications to leave poverty. Mr. Dau Van Hiep - Vice Chairman of Xa Luong Commune People's Committee happily said: Up to now, the whole commune has 236 households writing applications to leave poverty, the commune with the highest number of households voluntarily writing applications to leave poverty in Tuong Duong district. It is worth mentioning that the lives of the households writing applications to leave poverty are now basically stable.

Model of growing oranges and grapefruits in Xa Luong commune. Photo: D.C.

In Yen Na commune, Mr. Lo Van Nhan - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: Although people's lives are still difficult and the poverty rate is still high, up to now, the commune has had 17 households voluntarily write applications to be removed from the poverty list. Among them are households such as Lu Van Thieu, Ngan Van Loi, both in Huoi Cut village, and Mr. Oc Dinh Thue's household in Huoi Xen village, who are households that have proactively escaped poverty without needing support from the State.

Mr. Ngan Van Loi in Huoi Cut village, Yen Na commune - one of the households that applied to be out of poverty, said: "Out of poverty means that the family will not receive subsidies from the State as before. But we also have to break through and rise up! There are currently 4 people in the family, 3 of whom are of working age, so why worry about not having enough to eat?" Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Lu Van Thieu, not far from Mr. Loi's house, also said: "Why do we have to keep being considered a poor household for the State to support, when in the village and commune there are many households that are more difficult than us, and need more help than us"...

Indeed, holding the applications of the families, reading the scribbled lines written by the farmers themselves, one can see that each person has a different way of thinking, but the common thing is that they all show a sense of striving, not relying or relying on others, along with the desire to give up care and support to other households.

Join hands for the poor

In general, the majority of people in Tuong Duong district are currently facing many difficulties in their lives, the poverty rate is still high, at the end of 2018, there were 5,441 poor households in the district, accounting for 30.47%; near-poor households were 3,701 households, accounting for 20.73%. However, in 2019, 1,263 households escaped poverty, contributing to reducing the poverty rate of the whole district to 24.28%, a decrease of 6.19%. It is noteworthy that up to 490 households voluntarily wrote applications to escape poverty. Of which, Xa Luong commune: 236 households, Luu Kien commune: 44 households, Mai Son commune: 37 households, Huu Khuong commune: 26 households...

Head of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Tuong Duong district talks with people of Thach Giam commune. Photo: D.C.

To achieve the above results, according to Mr. Vang Hong Chuyen - Head of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs of Tuong Duong district, people's awareness is very important, however, the solutions and policies implemented by Tuong Duong district in the past time have added motivation to achieve the goal of poverty reduction.

Specifically, the district has strengthened the leadership and direction of Party committees and authorities at all levels in sustainable poverty reduction, developed a system of documents to direct and manage the implementation of poverty reduction. Enhanced the role and responsibility of all levels, sectors, organizations, unions and units in implementing poverty reduction. Well implemented the assignment of responsibilities to help poor households escape poverty according to the project of the province and district, creating conditions to encourage and motivate households to participate in poverty reduction registration.

Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tuong Duong district added: Along with implementing diverse models such as growing clean vegetables in Tam Thai communes, Thach Giam town, Xa Luong; raising livestock and poultry, planting raw material forests in Tam Quang, Yen Na, Yen Tinh, Tam Hop communes...

The district also organizes forms of introduction, promotion, creating a "bridge" to bring local products to consumers more widely, such as: Local goods fair in Xa Luong commune, market in Tam Thai commune; Store introducing and providing typical products of Tuong Duong district; Thanh Nien clean food store in town... This is an opportunity to create a premise for developing the service and tourism industry, providing the market with traditional specialties and branded products.

One of the booths selling local products in Xa Luong commune. Photo: Document

Regarding the issue of developing production forests, Mr. Kha said that previously 13,838.4 hectares of forestry land were planned for the Tan Hong Paper Factory which was ineffective. Now the province has revoked the planning for the MDF Nghe An Wood Joint Stock Company and Biomass Fuel Vietnam Co., Ltd. Therefore, in addition to the policies and incentives to develop the forestry economy in general, forest growers in the area will directly benefit from the policies of the companies.

In addition, a policy that the district pays special attention to implementing is credit incentives for poor households. Ensuring that poor households, near-poor households, households that have just escaped poverty, students with especially difficult circumstances have access to and borrow preferential credit through the Social Policy Bank and socio-political organizations to develop production, solve employment, learn vocational skills and export labor...

Tuong Duong district leaders give money to support house building for poor households in Xa Luong commune. Photo: Document

Talking to us, Mr. Lo Thanh Nhat - Vice Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee said: The fact that hundreds of poor households boldly wrote applications to leave poverty and made efforts to work and produce to escape poverty sustainably has really created a new momentum for the hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the district. In addition to the awareness of striving to develop the family economy, people have also gradually eliminated the mindset of waiting and relying on the State's support policies.

Along with the implementation of solutions and policies as in the past, the district continues to integrate and effectively use funding sources to support production development from central, provincial and district budget sources, to deploy and support people to develop and expand existing models, as well as deploy new models. Strengthen the connection between local authorities, businesses and farmers to improve the effectiveness of models, ensure sustainable development goals, and bring stable income to people...