Diversifying poverty reduction models

Raising large cattle has become a sustainable livelihood in Nghien Loan commune. (In photo: Taking care of a herd of cattle raised at Giang Tien Cooperative, Nghien Loan commune).

For many years, Ms. Nong Thi Xoa, Ban Dinh village, Nghien Loan commune, has been dedicated to and proficient in preparing food and cleaning livestock barns. Ms. Xoa said that at first, the farm only raised a few dozen animals. Later, realizing the market demand and the good profit from raising buffalo and cows, she expanded the scale. By 2024, she opened more barns, and now there are 169 animals here. Ms. Xoa's family also boldly established Giang Tien Cooperative specializing in livestock farming.

In addition to the barn, Giang Tien Cooperative has developed many more areas for raising buffalo and cows in the surrounding area. Up to now, the unit has 10 members, with nearly 400 buffalo and cows. Households participating in the cooperative are linked from the raising process to the consumption market. The cooperative grows more than 10 hectares of elephant grass itself, the rest is bought from people in the commune. The buffalo and cow raising model of Giang Tien Cooperative has helped many member households escape poverty.

In Ban Dinh and neighboring areas, many households have invested in barns to raise fattened buffalo and cows, and have linked up with cooperatives to find markets for consumption. The model of raising fattened buffalo and cows has gradually been expanded. Currently, in Nghien Loan, hundreds of households have participated, becoming a profession that brings in a good income for local people. According to Vice Chairman of Nghien Loan Commune People's Committee Pham Minh Tuan, the commune's production and cultivation land is not large, so livestock development is suitable for local characteristics.

Since then, people in the commune have focused on raising large livestock, with cooperatives and cooperative groups participating. On an area of nearly 2,000 m2 of rice fields, Ms. Ma Thi Hat, Phong Quang commune, previously specialized in growing two rice crops. From 2023, Ms. Hat switched from growing rice to growing cucumbers in association with cooperatives in the area. The cucumber plants grow quickly, and can be harvested after just over a month, with four crops being grown each year.

According to Ms. Hat, by linking with the cooperative, the family is supported with seeds, techniques and product consumption, each melon crop brings in 15-20 million VND/1,000 m2. Based on the local advantages, Trang Xa commune has formed a grapefruit growing area of over 280 hectares, a custard apple growing area of about 120 hectares, dragon fruit trees of over 10 hectares, and a stable tea area with an annual tea output of over 7,800 tons. Five cooperatives have been established in the commune with over 50 members, 6 craft villages and 3 OCOP products.

According to Vice Chairwoman of the Commune People's Committee Duong Thi Huong, in the period 2025-2030, the commune strives to reduce the multidimensional poverty rate to below 1% by 2030. To achieve this goal, the local government continues to implement the national target program for sustainable poverty reduction; effectively integrating it with other national target programs.

In particular, focusing on promoting strengths in agricultural and forestry development, creating sustainable livelihood models, focusing on supporting the poor in vulnerable groups, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, women and children. Thai Nguyen is currently implementing hundreds of livelihood support projects for poor households, near-poor households, and newly escaped-poverty households. In particular, many localities have chosen directions suitable to natural conditions, economic advantages and market demand, such as: Raising buffaloes, cows, and goats for breeding; developing medicinal plant cultivation under forest canopy, poultry farming; Raising caged fish, cold-water fish, developing OCOP products associated with community tourism; diversifying winter crop structures...

In these projects, the production, animal raising, and tree planting are determined by the locality based on the actual conditions to make plans. The models are implemented in a sustainable manner, limiting free handouts, but focusing on increasing livelihoods, helping people to be equipped with knowledge about animal husbandry, farming, business, especially supporting capital so that people have the conditions to invest in production. Notably, the province pays special attention to giving "fishing rods" instead of "fish" through promoting the effectiveness of policy credit capital for poor and near-poor households.

Mr. Luong Dinh Tam, Cho Moi commune, said that 5 years ago, with the advice of the social policy bank staff, he boldly borrowed 50 million VND to plant forests. The loan from the bank was for a long term, had a low interest rate and did not require collateral. After exploitation and paying off the bank loan, his family still had a fairly large income. According to Pham Tuan Hung, Director of the Social Policy Bank, Thai Nguyen province branch, by the end of September 2025, the total capital implemented in the area reached more than 9,111 billion VND, an increase of more than 505 billion VND compared to the end of 2024.

Currently, the number of households with outstanding loans is 125,047 households with an average outstanding loan of more than 72 million VND/household. The average outstanding loan of transaction offices is more than 535 billion VND; the average outstanding loan per commune is more than 98 billion VND; the average outstanding loan per savings and loan group is more than 2.3 billion VND. By September 30, 2025, the branch has lent to more than 20,860 poor households; more than 12,800 near-poor households and more than 10,100 newly escaped poverty households. Implementing the national target program for sustainable poverty reduction, in Thai Nguyen, the central and local budgets have invested more than 1,167 billion VND in localities.

From this resource, units and localities have built 55 infrastructure works, helping 13,000 households benefit, including more than 8,300 poor households. A total of 391 livelihood projects have been implemented, creating jobs and stable income for more than 8,800 households, of which more than half are poor and near-poor households. The integration of resources and implementation of many solutions has helped the province reduce the multidimensional poverty rate from 10.29% to 5.46% by the end of 2024.

In particular, the ethnic minority area alone decreased by nearly 8.7%. According to the representative of the provincial People's Committee, in the coming time, Thai Nguyen will effectively implement programs, projects and policies on poverty reduction. In particular, focusing on completing infrastructure in poor and disadvantaged communes, as a foundation to promote economic development. At the same time, the province also focuses on replicating poverty reduction models, considering this as the core motto of developing production linkage models between poor and near-poor households and enterprises through cooperatives and cooperatives.

Thai Nguyen strives to reduce the poverty rate to 4.65% by the end of 2025. From 2026 to 2030, the province will reduce the poverty rate by 1-1.5%; reduce at least 3% of poor households in disadvantaged communes and 3-4% of poor households belonging to ethnic minorities.

TUAN SON

Source: https://nhandan.vn/da-dang-hoa-mo-hinh-giam-ngheo-post919716.html