Hung Son Commune: Striving to be worthy of being the leading unit in building new rural areas

(Baonghean) - At the end of January, visiting Hung Son, after the enthusiastic handshake of Party Secretary Vo Van Hien, the story of a rural area's renovation was turned page by page. Going back to the past, Hung Son was a poor rural area. The villagers named their village "Mac Dien" meaning ink field, bringing success in education to dispel poverty.

But then, not by studying, but by heart, mind, diligence, and hard work, along with the dynamism and creativity of the leadership team, Hung Son commune has now become the leading unit of Anh Son district - one of two communes that will reach the new rural finish line in 2015.

Secretary Vo Van Hien took us on a tour around the commune, "verifying" the road system that has been hardened according to new rural standards. As a mountainous commune with a large area, why did Hung Son solve the problem of rural traffic so early and effectively? The Secretary "revealed": It can be said that Hung Son is a locality that has built new rural areas early. Since 2009, along with the consolidation of land plots, the road system in the commune has been re-planned with more than 20 km of inter-village roads planned and marked. There is no funding for road construction, but the road boundary has been determined. After the policy of building rural traffic with the State's support of cement, in just a short time, 22 km of inter-hamlet roads according to the standards have been hardened. There are hamlets like hamlet 4, with more than 3.4 km of road running through them, but people are still happy to contribute their efforts and money, with some households voluntarily contributing up to 5.6 million VND. Along with that, 14 km of raw material area roads and 12 km of intra-field roads were also built.

Playtime at Hung Son Kindergarten.

Along with traffic construction, production re-planning and land consolidation have been promoted. Up to now, Hung Son has formed specialized areas including a tea growing area of ​​nearly 600 hectares, a rice growing area of ​​more than 130 hectares, and a corn growing area of ​​430 hectares. Land consolidation has also been promoted; from 5-6 plots/household to now only 1-2 plots. The concentrated area is convenient for mechanization in production. Along with policies to encourage production, food output has increased rapidly to 3,054 tons (2015); per capita output reached 750 kg, an increase of 180 kg compared to 2011. Increased food output ensures food security so that people can focus on "getting rich" crops.

We went with the Party Secretary of the commune to "witness" the tea growing area. The hills were like upside-down bowls, covered in a cool green color of the first tea crop of the year. According to Secretary Hien, tea is the real "life-changing" tree for Hung Son farmers. In 2015, the whole commune only had 1.5 hectares of the pioneering cadres to experiment with, but now the whole commune has more than 500 hectares of tea for business. With 600 tea households (accounting for 80% of the population in the commune). In terms of economic efficiency, 2 tons of fresh tea buds are equal to 1 ton of rice. Just a few sao of tea for one harvest will yield 2 tons of buds. Each year, at least 6 harvests are harvested, which is much more effective than growing rice. The total tea bud output in 2014 reached 4,500 tons.

Identifying tea as the number 1 economic crop, every year, planting techniques, tea varieties and technical measures are constantly applied to improve the productivity, quality and efficiency of tea trees. The tea processing industry is also promoted. Hung Son tea processing factory was built by Nghe An Tea Development Investment Company right in the area to practically solve the output of tea products for the people. Recently, the commune has built a brand of clean tea processing village "Mac Dien" whose products are attracting attention. In the near future, the commune is determined to build a craft village as a tourist destination to attract visitors, increasing the value of tea trees. Visitors can visit the tea growing area, process tea by hand and finally the very unique tea flavor brand of Hung Son.

Tea processing at Hung Son Tea Factory (Anh Son).

Not only focusing on the spearhead of tea, but other crops such as sugarcane, corn, rice... and livestock are also focused on development by Hung Son. The production output of the commune has increased continuously every year; the total value of agricultural production in 2014 reached 76.5 billion VND, an increase of 17.69 billion VND compared to 2011. The average income per capita increased from 18.3 million VND in 2011 to 31.3 million VND in 2014. And the goal of the last year of the term of the Party Congress of the commune 2015-2020, Hung Son strives to reach 61.4 million VND/person, double the current level.

Along with economic development, cultural and social activities in Hung Son have achieved remarkable results: The whole commune has 3 hamlets recognized as cultural hamlets, the commune has met the second phase of medical standards, and has firmly completed the universalization of primary and secondary education. 2/3 schools have met national standards. The commune has completed 15/19 new rural criteria, etc. Discussing the development direction of the locality, Party Secretary Vo Van Hien said that in the next term, Hung Son will strive to accelerate the industrialization and modernization of agriculture; strive to irrigate 70% of the crop area (mainly tea trees), increase the quality of tea to enhance the value of the product. Build a clean tea processing village to attract tourism. Innovate in agricultural product processing technology... to increase income, improve the local socio-cultural environment to build Hung Son into a model new rural commune.

With what the locality has done and with new determination, we believe that the plan of the Party Committee and people of Hung Son commune will become reality.

Mr. Tuan