Preferential credit capital contributes to the construction of new rural district Nam Dan
(Baonghean) - Nam Dan district has just been recognized by the Prime Minister as meeting new rural standards; this achievement comes from the joint efforts and consensus of the local Party Committee and people; the participation of the province and all levels of sectors, including the contribution of loans from social policy banks in the area.
"Midwife" for poor households and policy households
Coming to Nam Dan today, we can clearly feel the appearance of the new rural district. Everywhere there are wide concrete roads, spacious houses, peaceful villages. Coming to Nam Thanh commune, we visited the family of Mr. Dinh Cong Minh, one of the four poor households in hamlet 6B, Nam Thanh commune. In 2015, he was lent 50 million VND by the district Social Policy Bank to raise cows. Up to now, with guidance on care techniques, the cows have reproduced well, the family has money to pay off the bank loan, and at the same time has more cows to continue raising, developing the family economy.
Mr. Minh shared: “The mountainous Nam Thanh area is difficult to produce crops due to lack of irrigation water, so there is a movement to raise buffalo and cows here. However, for a poor family like us, without bank capital, our family would not be like today. Despite many difficulties, my family has contributed more than 2 million VND to work with people in the village and commune to build rural roads and cultural houses.”
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| In 2014, Ms. Nguyen Thi Soa's family in Nam Thanh (Nam Dan) borrowed 12 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to invest in clean water and toilet facilities. Photo: Thu Huyen |
Mr. Vo Quang Trung - Head of the savings and loan group in hamlet 6B, Nam Thanh commune said: Currently, the group has 38 members with a total outstanding debt of 1.687 billion VND, including 36 near-poor households with a total outstanding debt of 1.177 billion VND. People here mainly borrow capital for livestock farming, currently the hamlet has 155 buffaloes and cows. Thanks to the effective use of loans, many households have escaped poverty and have the conditions to participate with the local government in building new rural areas.
Nam Cat Commune is one of the localities assessed to have the second-highest internal resources in the district, finishing in the top of Nam Dan district in 2014. Mr. Doan Thanh Dong - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: Nam Cat people have a very strong labor export movement, but to be like today, it is thanks to the timely and effective capital of the Social Policy Bank, there was a time when Nam Cat's outstanding debt was the largest in the district. During the implementation process, the government and associations and unions in the commune have closely coordinated with the bank; agricultural extension and vocational training activities have been promoted so that borrowers know how to use capital effectively. Currently, the commune has nearly 500 people working in other countries; the average income of the commune is 37 million VND/person/year. |
| Graphics: Huu Quan |
Talking to us, Mr. Nguyen Hong Son - Vice Chairman of Nam Dan District People's Committee, Head of the Board of Directors of the District Social Policy Bank, assessed: After more than 7 years of efforts to build new rural areas, the Party Committee, government and people of Nam Dan district have achieved many important achievements in socio-economic and cultural development; in which, there is the companionship of the District Social Policy Bank. Thanks to preferential loans, many policy families have capital for production, livestock farming, increased income, and improved life. Loans from banks are one of the important channels to help people invest in production development, significantly changing the face of the countryside, playing an important role in investing in infrastructure, items, and criteria for building new rural areas.
Accompanying the construction of new rural areas
Up to now, the total capital of Nam Dan District Social Policy Bank has reached 308 billion VND, the average annual capital growth rate is 33%. Total loan turnover is over 851 billion VND; outstanding debt by the end of May 2018 reached 309 billion VND. Currently, there are 10,880 households with outstanding debt, an average of nearly 30 million VND/household borrowing capital. Many programs have made positive contributions to helping complete the new rural criteria in the district, namely: Loan program for poor households, student loans, clean water and rural environmental sanitation, labor export, etc.
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| In Nam Cat commune (Nam Dan), the roads are paved with clean, neat asphalt concrete. Photo: Thu Huyen |
The loan program for poor and near-poor households is the number one priority program of the Social Policy Bank, fully meeting the loan needs of poor households eligible for loans in the area. Currently, the loan turnover of these two programs has reached nearly 400 billion VND, with over 20,000 customers receiving loans. The capital of the Social Policy Bank to poor households has helped families have conditions to develop their economy and be guided to use capital effectively.
With the motto of not letting any student drop out of school due to lack of tuition fees, the Nam Dan District Social Policy Bank identifies this as a major policy of the Party and State to encourage the movement of self-employment, support families in investing in education and training, help eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and create jobs most effectively. After 10 years of implementation, 19,583 students in the district have received loans, of which 4,762 students are studying at secondary schools, 5,279 students are studying at colleges and 9,542 students are studying at universities.Regarding the loan program for policy subjects to work abroad for a limited period, it has basically met the capital borrowing needs of beneficiaries in the district. There have been 1,026 customers going to work abroad in Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Libya... Especially since 2013, it has implemented margin loans for workers going to work in Korea under the Korean program of granting work permits for foreign workers. This is a channel to mobilize additional capital to the unit's lending capital.
The National Employment Fund's job creation loan program has contributed to supporting capital for production and business projects, farms and small-scale household projects to have more capital to expand investment, creating new jobs for workers. The total loan turnover is over 16 billion VND for 612 loan projects. The employment capital has contributed to creating jobs for 405 idle workers in the locality, contributing to increasing the market value of agricultural products through investing in livestock farms according to the industrial concentration model. Many projects have developed well, creating jobs for dozens of workers, contributing significantly to promoting the local economy; maintaining and developing traditional craft villages in Van Dien, town.
For the rural clean water and environmental sanitation program, 7,124 households have received loans to implement the rural clean water and environmental sanitation program, helping to increase the number of rural households using clean water and standard sanitation facilities. In addition, the programs for lending to newly escaped poor households; lending to poor households for housing; lending to poor households to build flood shelters have also been effective, leaving a deep impression in the solutions to implement the criteria for new rural construction in Nam Dan.
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| Mr. Dinh Cong Minh - a poor household in hamlet 6B, Nam Thanh commune (Nam Dan) develops livestock farming with a loan from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies. Photo: Thu Huyen |
Mr. Nguyen Sy Hai - Deputy Director of the District Social Policy Bank shared: During its operation, the District Social Policy Bank regularly receives regular coordination from agencies, departments, branches and organizations in the area. Especially the entrustment work with 4 socio-political organizations: Farmers' Association, Women's Union, Veterans' Association and Youth Union from district to commune and town levels in transferring loans to beneficiaries. The team of savings and loan group leaders is the "long arm" of the District Social Policy Bank to the blocks and hamlets. Although the district still has many economic difficulties, following the instructions and plans of the Secretariat and the Provincial Party Committee, in 2016, the local budget was allocated to supplement the loan capital of the Social Policy Bank with 200 million VND/plan of 300 million VND, in 2017 it was 100 million VND, and in 2018 it was 370 million VND.
“To continue to contribute to the implementation of criteria on income, poverty rate, and sustainable development of new rural areas, in the coming time, we will continue to improve the quality of operations, continue to review poor households according to new criteria to transfer loan capital to the right beneficiaries. Thereby helping people have the opportunity to develop the economy, reduce the poverty rate, and have a reasonable labor structure to effectively build new rural areas in the locality.”