Our trip up to Thach Ngan commune was on the morning of July 12. During the long hot days, the landscape in this difficult area became even more desolate. Looking at the dry canal systems, the pale fields that could not be cultivated in the summer-autumn crop, we wondered: Where will the grass come from for people to raise cows? In the group going to Ba Ha village to visit the Dan Lai people, there was the Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Thach Ngan commune, Vi Van Bien. After listening to the discussion, he said: When the work is done, please come back to visit Dong Thang village, the place where the commune chose to implement the Cow Bank Program.
In the afternoon of the same day, together with Mr. Vi Van Bien, Vi Van Dieu, Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Thach Ngan Commune; Ms. Luong Thi Thang - Head of Dong Thang Village, we visited poor households participating in the Cow Bank Program. The family of Mr. Lo Van Kinh and Mrs. Loc Thi Binh is one of those households. Having worked as a village cadre for many years, Ms. Thang understands very well the situation of Mr. Kinh's family. She said that Mr. Lo Van Kinh has a very special situation, his family is poor and he has a congenital disability that prevents him from speaking. Even his marriage to Mrs. Loc Thi Binh from Binh Son Commune, Anh Son District was thanks to the matchmaking of his family, the villagers and the village. Now, thanks to the State's policies, the help of the Party Committee, the government and the villagers, Mr. Kinh's family has a 2-room house and has breeding cows to raise, but there are still many difficulties and he cannot escape poverty.
Mr. Kinh's family lives on a gentle hill, next to the son's family's house. The entire area of his garden is planted with elephant grass to raise cows. Mr. Kinh is small in stature, with dark skin. When he sees guests coming, he rushes out to greet them, waving his hands and mumbling something. Village chief Luong Thi Thang sees this and says, "Every day, Mr. Kinh takes the cows out to eat himself. This afternoon, knowing that guests will come, he keeps the cows in the barn. He means to invite everyone to come and visit." Mr. Kinh's cow barn is quite airy and clean, next to it is a hay barn. In the barn, there is a mother cow and two generations of calves about 5-6 months apart, with smooth, orange-yellow skin, full of energy.
Feeding elephant grass with Mr. Kinh, his daughter-in-law, Ms. Ha Thi Huong, said that in 2022, the family received 12 million VND from the Cow Bank Program to buy breeding cows. When buying, they chose to buy a mother cow and her calf. After a while, the mother cow got pregnant and gave birth to another calf. "He takes care of them more than himself. Since buying them, he has been around them all day. You guys keep asking, he can't speak but he still listens...". Listening to Huong, she asked Mr. Kinh: How do you find raising breeding cows, are you happy? Do you intend to raise them long-term or sell them for money in the future? He laughed, then shook his head and waved his hand. Ms. Huong "translated": "He won't sell them, he has to fulfill his commitment, raise the mother cow for 5 years. Now he has 1 breeding cow and 2 calves. One calf will be transferred to another family. He will raise them long-term to have more cows...".
Leaving Mr. Lo Van Kinh's house, we visited the family of Ms. Lo Thi Thuy and Mr. Luong Van Nguyen. Ms. Thuy has a house built in the garden of her husband's family. The land was given by her parents, in addition to building the house, they planted elephant grass, which is now growing wildly. Ms. Thuy said that her husband works as a worker in Hanoi, and sends home about 4 million VND to her and her child every month. When the couple got married and moved out, they had no assets. So, when the State gave them 12 million VND to buy a cow, they were very happy. Asked Ms. Thuy: When handing over the money, did the project officer have any requirements? Ms. Thuy smiled and said: "The superiors reminded us to buy a mother cow. They required us to plant grass, raise the cows well..." Then she said, when she told her husband that the superiors gave her money to raise the cows, he was very happy, every time he called, he reminded her, "You have to raise the cows and raise the cows well...".
Ms. Thuy now has a pair of mother and calf cows of approximately the same weight; the mother cow is pregnant again. Ms. Thuy excitedly said: “Our family is lucky because we bought the cow from our villagers when she was pregnant. We bought the cow in April 2022 and by November she had given birth. Now the mother cow is pregnant again, and in a few months the family will have a new calf.” I asked Ms. Thuy jokingly: The calf is now 8 months old, almost as big as the mother cow, is it a pity to have to transfer it? Ms. Thuy laughed heartily: “Of course. But that's the "rule", we have to transfer it to another family that has cows to raise like us…”.
A few dry fields away from Ms. Lo Thi Thuy's house, the family of Mr. and Mrs. Lo Van Chuong and Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai also received support to buy a breeding cow. When buying, the couple contributed an additional 2.5 million VND to buy a native mother cow that was 4 months pregnant. Thanks to good care, it is now difficult to distinguish which is the mother cow and which is the calf. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai, in 2022, her family was classified as a poor household. Thanks to the Cow Bank Program, and receiving a support policy of 40 million VND to rebuild a new house, the family has moved out of poverty. Ms. Hai said: "My family is an agricultural family, and it is still difficult. But as a young couple, we have a house, a cow..., so it is okay, so we are out of poverty to give up our place to another family. I am very grateful to the State for supporting my family...".
Thach Ngan commune is the place to welcome 80 Dan Lai households to live in Thach Son and Ba Ha villages. From the core of Pu Mat forest to their new home, the life of the Dan Lai people is extremely difficult, especially those in Ba Ha village because they just moved here in 2019, the allocated fields to grow rice for food are very limited. Therefore, when hearing the officials of Thach Ngan commune introduce Mr. Vi Van Dieu - Vice Chairman of the Commune Fatherland Front Committee, also Secretary of the Ba Ha village Party Cell, they asked why the Cow Bank Program was only implemented in Dong Thang village, but not in Thach Son and Ba Ha villages?
According to Party Cell Secretary Vi Van Dieu, the Dan Lai people when returning to Thach Ngan commune were all supported with buffalo, pigs and poultry. Although they have lived in the new place for five years, their thinking about raising livestock has not changed, they still let their animals roam freely and do not know how to build barns to take care of them at home. Therefore, raising cows for reproduction requires a period of "hand-holding and guidance". Only when selecting households with real ability will they report to superiors for permission to participate. Hearing this, Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of the commune Vi Van Bien added: "The reason Dong Thang village was chosen is because out of a total of 123 households, only 12 are poor. Implementing the Cow Bank Program with 10 participating households, we hope that Dong Thang village will soon eliminate poor households. As for the Dan Lai people, it will take time to find technical guidance factors, until they are aware and proficient in raising livestock, then they can participate in the program...".
Joining us in Dong Thang village was Mr. Nguyen Quoc Dai - an expert of the Fatherland Front Committee of Con Cuong district. As a person who is close to the job, he told us clearly about the circumstances of the birth of the Cow Bank Program. According to Mr. Dai, in recent years, like other mountainous districts of the province, Con Cuong district has received attention from the Party and the State, implementing many programs and projects for economic and social development. However, Con Cuong is still a poor mountainous district, the lives of ethnic minorities still face many difficulties. The whole district has 12 communes, of which 9 are in the group of especially difficult communes; there are 3,600 poor households, of which more than 3,400 poor households are ethnic minorities.
Regarding the lives of people in Con Cuong district, they still mainly rely on agriculture, but lack capital and techniques to be able to develop production, livestock and cultivation independently. On the other hand, in the area there are still not many effective models of hunger eradication and sustainable poverty reduction. Faced with this reality, the district Party Committee and government have proposed the need to build many "Smart Mass Mobilization" models, helping poor households with capital and techniques, exploiting the potential and advantages of the locality with the goal of sustainable poverty eradication.
In that spirit, the Standing Committee of the District Fatherland Front Committee has chosen to implement the Cow Bank Program, with the full name of the Project "Developing breeding of reproductive heifers to create livelihoods for poor and near-poor households to escape poverty sustainably". In 2020, with the consent of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee and the support of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, the Cow Bank Program with funding from the "For the Poor" Fund was implemented with the goal of supporting poor and near-poor households to develop breeding of native cows and Sind crossbred cows; thereby, creating livelihoods, jobs, increasing income; gradually replicating the model; contributing to the completion of the goal of sustainable poverty reduction, ensuring social security.
To participate in the Cow Bank Program, households must comply with a number of mandatory conditions. Specifically, they must first be poor or near-poor households in communes in the area. At the same time, households must have a voluntary application to participate in the project and a commitment to participate in the project. The Commune Project Management Board must also be responsible for reviewing and ensuring that the head of the participating household must have full civil capacity, be able to acquire breeding techniques, have enough healthy labor to raise cows; and at the same time, must have at least 500m2land for growing grass, ensuring food for cows.
Regarding the implementation process, households are supported with capital to buy breeding cows. From the second year onwards, the project cows will breed. Calves will be cared for until they are about 9-10 months old, with a weight equivalent to that of the mother cow, which is also the time when the Project Board recovers capital. That is, households will hand over calves to the Project Management Board to transfer to other poor households in the area. According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Dai, the program started in 2020, in the three communes of Mon Son, Lang Khe, Cam Lam with 30 local mother cows. These cows have so far given birth to 23 calves, and 21 have been transferred to the next 21 households. In 2021, the program will be implemented in the five communes of Binh Chuan, Don Phuc, Mau Duc, Don Phuc, Chau Khe, Luc Da, with 50 participating households. Families were supported with 15,000,000 VND, with a total amount of 750,000,000 VND to buy 50 Sind crossbred cows. Up to now, most households have ensured their breeding work, the cows have developed well, but because they are Sind crossbred cows, they reproduce slowly. In 2022, the program will continue to be implemented in the three communes of Chi Khe, Yen Khe, and Thach Ngan with 30 breeding cows, with a total amount of 360,000,000 VND. After 1 year, this herd of breeding cows has produced 20 calves, of which, in Chi Khe commune, 2 calves have been transferred to the next 2 families.
“After 3 years of implementation, from the initial 110 breeding cows, 44 more have been produced. Due to 7 cows dying from disease, the total number of cows in the program is 148, of which 24 have been transferred to 24 poor households. The estimated average value of each cow is 15,000,000 VND, the total capital of the program is currently 2.2 billion VND, compared to the capital of the entire 3 years combined, there has been a profit of about 800 million VND. Of the 110 households participating in the Project, 13 have escaped poverty and 19 have moved from poor to near-poor households. From this result, the Standing Committee of the District Fatherland Front Committee assesses this as a truly effective model…”.
…We left Thach Ngan commune when the afternoon had fallen. On the way back, we contacted the Head of the District Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee, Chairman of the Con Cuong District Fatherland Front Committee - Mr. Pham Trong Binh to ask him what he personally thought about the Cow Bank Program. His answer was: "Although it was the first time it was implemented, this is a quite effective program, with the consensus of the cadres and people, strictly following the plan built by the District Fatherland Front organization. I have joked several times on my personal Facebook page "I feel like this business trip is profitable". But indeed, the people participating in the program were very responsible, conscious of the amount of money from the "For the Poor" Fund that groups, businesses, households and individuals contributed and gave to them. From their awareness, that meaningful money has become more meaningful. Therefore, this program will continue to be funded and expanded...".