Building a playground for "selection of healthy and beautiful buffaloes" in Cam Son commune (Anh Son): Contributing to local economic development

(Baonghean) - In recent years, Cam Son commune (Anh Son) has risen to the top of the district in the movement of building new rural areas and developing the economy, especially raising cattle and buffaloes in the direction of goods. Based on this reality, the Party Committee and the commune government have constantly pondered the idea of ​​building a cattle and buffalo market associated with the playground "Selection of healthy and beautiful buffaloes to serve farmers" to contribute to economic development in the locality and the southwestern mountainous region of the province.

The terrain of Cam Son commune is located along National Highway 7A in the western part of Anh Son district, with a natural area of ​​nearly 3,000 hectares, of which 477 hectares are agricultural land and nearly 2,000 hectares are hilly and forest land, quite favorable for growing grass and developing large livestock farming.

Buffalo fighting festival in Cam Son. Photo: C.Kien

Identifying the right potential and strengths to create a new breakthrough in agriculture, after nearly 5 years of building a new rural area, the Party Committee and the government of Cam Son commune have focused on developing the traffic infrastructure system, promoting the development of a fast and strong trade and service system to reach the top of Anh Son district, being the first commune in the district to basically achieve 19 criteria for building a new rural area; creating favorable conditions for the Party Committee to issue Resolutions on focusing on directing the development of the livestock industry to become a key economic sector of the locality. Thanks to that, the total herd of buffaloes and cows in the whole commune reached over 3,000 heads, the herd of pigs over 7,000 heads, the herd of goats nearly 2,000 heads, and poultry over 92,000 heads; the total herd of buffaloes increased by 12%, the herd of cows increased by 9%, reaching the top of the district.

The whole commune has formed 18 models of small and medium-sized farms and ranches for comprehensive livestock raising, 21 business points, trading buffalo and cattle for goods with Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Tan Ky districts and within the district; the business scale reaches 20 - 50 cows/model for an income of 80 - 250 million VND/model/year. Many farming households are interested in choosing buffaloes to raise healthy and beautiful buffaloes and organizing the selection of healthy and beautiful buffaloes to serve farmers in the area. Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, Vice Chairman of Cam Son Commune People's Committee, said: The value of each buffalo sold before was only 30 - 40 million VND, if sold at the price of healthy and beautiful buffaloes, the price will increase to 70 - 80 million VND. In addition, commercial buffalo meat is currently favored by the market with prices 3, 4 times higher than the meat of other animals.

Faced with such practical requirements, how to ensure livestock farming, build consumption markets, and build brands for local livestock products to all regions in the region and in the country has become a top concern. In early 2013, the Party Committee, government and people of Cam Son commune established a market for trading and selling buffaloes and cows in Tan Lam village with an area of ​​nearly 1 hectare. The market operates 3 sessions/month, gathering hundreds of buffaloes and cows with hundreds of households participating in trading and business. After each market session, it creates conditions for people to exchange and discuss business activities. Typically, on the occasion of the April 30 holiday, the commune organized a selection of healthy and beautiful buffaloes with 16 pairs of buffaloes from 32 buffalo owners in the district and the districts of Tan Ky, Con Cuong, Do Luong and 1 buffalo owner in Dak Nong province. The selection has attracted over 20,000 tourists from all over the country to enjoy. This shows that the market demand for large livestock farming and the need for spiritual entertainment in the mountainous area in the West of the province is currently very large.

According to the assessment of Mr. Hoang Ba Nhi, Secretary of the Party Committee of Cam Son commune, although the market and the yard for selecting healthy and beautiful buffaloes to serve farmers are still spontaneous, the activities have contributed to accelerating the economic development, bringing the proportion of the livestock industry to over 40% of the economic structure of the whole commune. Typically, Hoi Lam village currently has 151 households, thanks to the development of the movement of trading in commercial buffaloes and cows, raising healthy and beautiful buffaloes, combining with the development of industry, transportation, construction and services, the average income per capita reaches 30 million VND/person/year, higher than the average level of the commune and the whole Anh Son district (27.5 million VND/person/year). Besides opening up a consumption market for the large-scale livestock industry, accelerating the development of the total livestock herd, the buffalo and cow trading market contributes to promoting business and trading activities, developing the socio-economy and creating jobs for hundreds of rural workers in the commune.

Buffalo fighting ground in Cam Son. Photo: Luong Mai

To contribute to promoting the local image, promoting the propaganda of the market business and trading of buffaloes and cows, and at the same time creating a playground to satisfy the people's thoughts and tastes, contributing to maintaining and ensuring the sustainable development of the market model, at the end of 2014, the Party Committee and the government of Cam Son commune boldly proposed the policy of building a yard to select healthy and beautiful buffaloes every year to serve farmers, bringing this activity into the state administrative management in accordance with the law to promote and exploit the advantages and strengths in all fields. Currently, the People's Committee of Cam Son commune has developed a project "Building a playground and organizing the selection of healthy and beautiful buffaloes to serve farmers". The yard area has been arranged to complete the planning of an area of ​​over 8,000 m2 in the area (land converted from manual brick kilns) in Tan Lam village. This playground construction project was invested by 10 households in 4 communes of Cam Son, Binh Son, Hoa Son, Thanh Son with over 870 million VND and the land in Cam Son commune was already planned.

Currently, the idea of ​​planning and building a playground to select healthy and beautiful buffaloes to serve farmers in Cam Son commune has been basically approved by the People's Committee of Anh Son district. The project was expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015, but due to some necessary procedures, the plan is still in the people's expectation. Discussing this issue, Ms. Vo Thi Hong Lam, Chairman of the People's Committee of Anh Son district, said: Building a market to trade buffaloes and cows as well as building a yard and organizing the selection of healthy and beautiful buffaloes to serve farmers is to maintain traditional culture. The district highly encourages and welcomes the spirit of progress and integration for development to contribute to improving the income and life of the people of the Party Committee and the government of Cam Son commune. In the immediate future, the district prioritizes planning work, creating conditions for the commune to complete the project after ensuring the necessary procedures.

In addition to the meaning of promoting traditional culture, the construction of the above playground is a good condition for business to increase revenue for the locality, contributing to changing the lives of people in Cam Son commune in particular and Anh Son and Con Cuong districts in general. Therefore, the greatest wish of the Party Committee, government and people of Cam Son commune at present is to receive the attention and spiritual support of all levels and sectors so that the project can be implemented soon.

Luong Mai