PHUC THANH COMMUNE (YEN THANH): Converting land for breakthrough and large-scale production

(Baonghean) - Phuc Thanh is a mountainous commune of Yen Thanh district, known for many historical and cultural relics, the most famous of which is Duc Hoang Temple worshiping the Tran Dynasty's military general, Sat Hai Dai Vuong Hoang Ta Thon. The commune has a natural area of ​​1,594.6 hectares, of which agricultural land is 1,167.59 hectares, accounting for 73.2%; the rest is ponds, roads and low hills, so it is basically a purely agricultural commune, production and people's lives still have many difficulties. In recent years, although the commune has developed quite comprehensively, people monoculture rice, the development of occupations is not commensurate with the conditions, potential and development trends of society...

In order to develop and successfully build the new rural area (NTM) target, the first thing the commune did was to review the current status of NTM in the area, and found that among the criteria that the commune had basically achieved, there were 4 criteria that required large resources: electricity - schools - stations and cultural works that had reached 100%; but the remaining criteria and items such as irrigation and redesigning fields to move up to large-scale production... required a lot of resources and support from the people, while the state's support was very limited. Through many discussions and comments from the Party cells to the people's meetings, the Party Committee and the government of Phuc Thanh commune came to an agreement on the motto of promoting the strength of the entire people. From there, choosing the second land conversion as the most basic goal, the driving force to change the face of the countryside, opening up the direction of large-scale commodity production, bringing mechanization into production, building large-scale model fields, bringing higher production value. When production develops, farmers' lives will improve, mobilizing people's resources for the goal of building new rural areas will be more convenient, and implementation progress will be faster.

Testing new high quality rice varieties in Phuc Thanh commune.

From the above ideas and urgent requirements, the Party Committee of the commune discussed, presented to the Party Committee and to each Party cell for discussion, and agreed to issue a Resolution to be deployed to the entire population. Comrade Dinh Van Duong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, said: When it was first deployed, because a part of the people did not understand, there was also a strong reaction, but later thanks to propaganda and mobilization solutions, the people understood the practical benefits of land conversion, so in the end, 20/20 hamlets all accepted and agreed to support.

However, the implementation was not really smooth, because this land conversion had to overcome the 5 shortcomings of the previous land conversion (in 2002). Thanks to clearly defining the goals, the commune was able to meet the people's wishes. The efficiency of land conversion was clear, helping people save production costs. The average number of plots (production areas) before conversion was 4.8 plots/household, now after conversion it is 1.2 plots/household, creating a new change in thinking, working methods and promoting the autonomy of farming households in investing in intensive cultivation, converting the structure of seedlings towards commodity production. On the other hand, the commune re-planned the fields, completed the internal irrigation traffic system, expanded the inter-village and inter-commune road traffic system, improved irrigation efficiency; allocated a part of the land fund to plan commercial service areas, social welfare works, forming large model fields that bring high value to production.

Thanks to high consensus, in just 1 month, the commune completed the second land conversion and mobilized over 8 billion VND to dig and fill 200,000m3 of embankments and canals; installed a complete drainage system; people voluntarily donated nearly 47 hectares of land, equivalent to 37 billion VND and contributed nearly 10 billion VND to build internal irrigation and rural traffic.

Thanks to the success of the breakthrough in land conversion, Phuc Thanh has mobilized a large amount of people to build a new rural area. Starting with many difficulties, but after nearly 3 years of implementation, with many sources from integrated project programs and people's contributions, Phuc Thanh has mobilized over 80 billion VND, of which the central budget is 4,005 billion VND; the province 7.48 billion VND, the district 85 million VND and the commune 22 billion VND; people contributed 45 billion VND and labor, donated land for road construction and welfare works 159,000m2 of land, contributed 24,000 working days; the commune built 9 km of rural traffic with a cost of nearly 9.4 billion VND. Thus, from only 6 initial criteria, in nearly 3 years, Phuc Thanh has made great efforts to complete the remaining 13 criteria and at the end of 2014 was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as meeting the new rural standards.

Sharing the successful experiences of the locality, comrade Dinh Van Duong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Thanh commune, said: In addition to the commune having a united collective so that the leader has political determination, enthusiasm, and dares to think and dare to do, the consensus of the people is the most important factor. The second land conversion is truly a revolution for the locality... The specific lesson that Phuc Thanh commune has done and succeeded is that the second land conversion must be associated with the planning of building a new rural area; to successfully convert land, after the people agree, they must know how to choose the right time so as not to affect the production and crops of farmers...

With the above outstanding efforts, Phuc Thanh commune has not only succeeded in building a new rural area but also become a model for localities to learn from when implementing new rural area construction associated with increasing production value and truly improving people's lives...

Article and photos:P. Ha - T. Huong