Nam Cuong commune (Nam Dan district) is thriving thanks to the New Rural Development program.

(Baonghean) - At the beginning of the Spring of the Year of the Rooster, Nam Cuong commune (Nam Dan district) was honored to receive a decision from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee recognizing it as a new-style rural commune. This is truly a major event, acknowledging the achievements that the commune's officials and people have strived to attain.

Nam Cuong is a predominantly agricultural commune, comprising 11 hamlets with a natural area of ​​736.5 hectares and a population of 6,133 people. The commune has 15 subordinate Party branches and 282 Party members. The commune's advantage lies in its relatively abundant and diligent workforce, which is also responsive to market demands. The commune primarily engages in agriculture combined with livestock farming, and develops small-scale handicraft and service industries.

The kindergarten in Nam Cuong commune (Nam Dan district) has been renovated and upgraded. Photo: Thu Huong

In implementing the National Target Program for New Rural Development, the commune faced several initial difficulties, including a lack of experience among its staff in directing and managing new rural development; a low starting point for the locality with many challenges; and a relatively low standard of living, both materially and spiritually, among the people.

With the attention of Party committees, government agencies, and functional departments; the consensus, support, and unity within the Party committee and the people; and the clear understanding that building new rural areas is an important political task, on March 10, 2015, the Party Committee of Nam Cuong commune issued Resolution No. 03/NQ-DU on implementing the National Target Program for building new rural areas, and on March 10, 2015, issued Resolution No. 01/NQ-DU on leading the implementation of rural road construction and raising the sense of responsibility of Party members and citizens in building new rural areas in the 2015-2017 period.

After establishing the Steering Committee and specialized apparatus to manage the construction of new rural areas in the commune, the commune has focused on strengthening propaganda efforts to mobilize and inspire the participation of all segments of the population. In rural road construction, the commune coordinates with hamlet units to investigate and compile a list of necessary roads, the number of boundary walls to be demolished, and prepare cost estimates for each hamlet. Subsequently, the committees directly conduct outreach and dialogue with the people regarding land clearance to find suitable solutions for implementation.

Rural roads in Nam Cuong have been paved with concrete. Photo: Hoang Vinh.

To secure investment capital for construction, the commune effectively utilized available local resources while maximizing investment from the central government, the province, businesses, expatriates from Nam Cuong, and other external support sources. As a result, 130 households donated 1,650 square meters of garden land, 105 households dismantled 2,750 square meters of boundary walls, and over 9 hectares of agricultural land were donated to expand internal irrigation and transportation infrastructure. To date, the entire commune has completed 3.4 out of 7.8 km of asphalt and concrete roads connecting communes; 11.418 out of 18.2 km of main village roads have been asphalted or concreted; and 12.4 out of 14.7 km of internal field roads have been paved with gravel...

Vegetable gardening in Hamlet 4, Nam Cuong Commune (Nam Dan District). Photo: Thu Huong

In addition to the criteria for road construction, over the past six years of implementing the New Rural Development program, with funding from the central government budget and matching funds from the people, the commune has supported the construction of many production development models. Simultaneously, it has planned training and vocational education for laborers; coordinated with the District Agricultural Extension Station to open an average of 3 training courses per year, each with 70 participants, to transfer scientific and technical knowledge; and collaborated with seed supply companies to organize 2 training courses annually on the production process of high-yield rice varieties. Furthermore, it has carried out land consolidation and exchange to improve agricultural production efficiency and organize commodity production. Leveraging the strengths of the region, the commune has restored and developed small-scale handicraft industries such as civil carpentry, welding, and sand and gravel mining.

To date, the entire commune has over 433 individual business households. Notably, thanks to the shift in crop and livestock structure towards increasing value, after six years, many high-value crop varieties have been introduced into production in concentrated commodity production areas; specialized rice production areas have been formed, and models such as large-scale model fields (30 hectares), local soybean varieties, winter vegetable production, fattening cattle, and bio-secure chicken farming have been established. This is one of the important steps taken by Nam Cuong commune in agricultural development, significantly contributing to raising the average income of people to 22.5 million VND/year; reducing the poverty rate to 4.99%; and providing regular employment for 2,965 out of 3,025 workers.

Developing a canal system to serve agricultural production. Photo: Hoang Vinh.

Other criteria include: the irrigation system has been reinforced with 3.48 km of canals, reaching 85% completion; schools have been invested in and standardized to meet teaching and learning needs; cultural and sports facilities in communes and villages have been invested in and built, with 8 out of 11 villages achieving the status of "cultural village". The commune health station has been reinforced to meet national standards for healthcare. The electricity grid system has been strengthened, ensuring 100% of households have access to the national power grid, and its management and use are efficient, meeting the needs of electricity for production and daily life…

Evaluating the progress of building new rural areas in his commune, Mr. Nguyen An Toan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Cuong commune - said: From 2011, the entire commune only met 5 out of 19 criteria for new rural areas; now, after 6 years, it has risen to complete all 19 criteria. This is truly a process of continuous striving and effort by the entire government apparatus and people of Nam Cuong commune.

Thu Huong