'Sister Cuc... is no longer suffering!'

QTO - "Ms. Cuc... is no longer suffering!", the half-serious, half-joking introduction by Ho Thi Phuc, head of the Women's Association in Thanh O village, Lia commune, about a member who excels in business, piqued our curiosity. For many years, thanks to hard work, Ms. Ho Thi Cuc's family (born in 1978) has enjoyed a more prosperous life, no longer having to worry about food and clothing as before.

Waking up early in the morning, rushing to the fields with hoes and machetes, yet still not having enough to eat – that was the story of Ms. Cuc's family more than five years ago. But during a recent business trip to the mountainous southwestern region of Quang Tri , we had the opportunity to visit her family again, and we were quite surprised.

Now, the couple has opened a grocery store and starts their days more leisurely. For the past few years, thanks to the shift from harvesting reeds from the wild to cultivating them in their garden, combined with growing sugarcane to serve the people's beverage needs in the summer, the couple has had additional work and a stable source of income.

Thanks to proper care, Ms. Cuc's family's herd of cows is thriving and reproducing well - Photo: TP

Ms. Cực once had a difficult life, just like the name her parents gave her. She married very young, then had four more children, and with an elderly mother to care for, even though she and her husband worked tirelessly from morning till night, their income was still insufficient to feed seven mouths. Hunger and poverty thus clung relentlessly to the fate of this unfortunate woman.

Previously, like other families in the area, Ms. Cuc and her husband mainly grew cassava and cultivated fields. In years with a good cassava harvest, the family had enough to eat and wear; conversely, if the harvest failed, they could only subsist on porridge. During the times traders came to their house to buy reeds, Ms. Cuc learned that reeds were becoming a popular raw material for consumers due to their many uses: making brooms for sweeping floors and whitewashing, as feed for buffaloes, cows, and fish, or for weaving handicrafts... So in 2018, her husband, Mr. Ho May, boldly decided to clear all the unproductive cassava fields and plant reeds instead.

“The reed plant is very easy to grow, it doesn't require as much care as cassava. I go along the banks of the Se Pon River to collect roots and plant them in the ground. After only a year, the reeds flower and are ready for harvest. Especially, after each harvest, the reeds regenerate very quickly, and the next harvest yields more than the previous one. Thanks to that, my family's income is more stable,” Mr. May said.

From their initial patch of reeds, Ms. Cuc's family now owns more than 1 hectare of reed field. Now, they no longer need to go to the forest to harvest reeds; they still have a stable income of over 15 million VND per year. During the reed flowering season, Mr. May also organizes the purchase of reeds from local people to resell to traders who need them.

Besides growing reeds, the couple also opened a small grocery store; they grow seasonal crops such as cabbage, shallots, chili peppers, eggplant, onions, corn, and potatoes to sell to people in the villages of the Lìa region and improve their family's meals. Also in 2018, the couple borrowed 50 million VND from the Huong Hoa branch of the Social Policy Bank to buy 3 cows. To date, the herd has grown and continuously increased in number.

Ms. Cực said: “We utilize old vegetables; the stems and leaves of the wild ginger plant after harvesting are ground into feed for cows and poultry. Therefore, we don't have to worry about a shortage of food for them when it rains and gets cold.” For the past two years, she and her husband have grown sugarcane and pressed it into juice to serve the summer beverage needs of the local people. Thanks to their new economic mindset and hard work, their family's income has improved steadily. On average, these activities bring Ms. Cực and her husband an income of over 100 million VND per year. With the money, they built a sturdy house, bought essential household items, paid off their bank debts, and provided for their children's education. Their economic model is also frequently visited by members of local and international associations.

Commenting on Ms. Cuc's inspiring example of overcoming difficulties and achieving success, Ms. Ho Thi Phuc, Head of the Women's Association in Thanh O village, said: "Ms. Cuc is a successful businesswoman and always works diligently to increase her income and improve her family's life. Despite being busy with her own work, she enthusiastically participates in the association's and local activities. Ms. Cuc is a role model for women members both within and outside the area to learn from."

Sharing more with us, Ms. Cuc said that her greatest happiness is having a husband who always loves, supports, and shares with her. From the difficult times to the prosperous ones, she and her husband have always been cheerful and optimistic. "Because of Cuc, but also because of good fortune, life is no longer hard!" she joked.

Truc Phuong

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/xa-hoi/202510/chi-cuc-nay-da-het-cuc-7d84e01/