In the last days of the year, Vang Ngan village - one of the particularly difficult villages of Son Luong commune - becomes bustling with the atmosphere of urgent work. That atmosphere does not come from festivals but from the spirit of "going to war" to prepare barns to welcome the herd of breeding cows supported by the State.
Mr. Trieu Van Tho - Head of Vang Ngan village excitedly said: "Vang Ngan village has 106 households, in this period, 11 poor and near-poor households received support from the State with 3 breeding cows each, a total of 33 cows. People are very excited, but the village also clearly understands that receiving cows comes with the responsibility of caring for them. Winter has come, people have to fence, store straw and grass and build a cement floor for the cows to be raised healthy."
We visited the family of Mr. Trieu Trung Hien, a near-poor household that had just received 3 breeding cows. While quickly reinforcing the windbreak for the newly built cow barn, Mr. Hien emotionally shared: "My family is a near-poor household, and for many years has wanted to develop the economy but lacked capital. Now that the Party and the State have supported breeding cows, and the commune officials have guided me on barn building and grass growing techniques, I am very happy. I promise to take good care of the cows so that they can reproduce and soon help my family escape poverty."
Ms. Dang Thi Lai, another poor household in the village, could not hide her joy when watching the cows grazing in the barn. Ms. Lai shared: "Thank you very much to the Party and the State. Now that I have the cows, I will try to work hard, plant more elephant grass, and take care of the cows."
The story in Vang Ngan is the clearest proof of the new approach in Son Luong: Giving "fishing rods" along with instructions on "fishing techniques". Mr. Giang A Lu, Head of the Economic Department of Son Luong Commune, said that the commune has currently deployed 3 livestock cooperatives and disbursed capital promptly.
"We do not hand over the cows and leave them to the people. Instead, we assign technical staff to closely follow and guide people from building barns to caring for them and preventing diseases," Mr. Lu emphasized.
If cows are the immediate livelihood, the hill and forest economy - especially cinnamon and Shan Tuyet tea - is identified by Son Luong commune as the "key" to sustainable poverty escape.
Mr. Pham Nguyen Binh - Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Luong commune proudly said that the whole commune currently has nearly 2,000 hectares of cinnamon and more than 400 hectares of tea, including 200 hectares of ancient tea trees. "The effectiveness of cinnamon and tea trees in recent years is undeniable. These are the main crops that help people have a stable source of income, build solid houses and buy convenient things" - Mr. Binh further affirmed.
In particular, the "Collective cinnamon hill" model in Vang Ngan village is a bright spot in the economic development of the forest hills here. Since 1972, the village has maintained a common land fund for growing cinnamon.
Village chief Trieu Van Tho said that last season, the village mobilized people to exploit and collect more than 15 tons of cinnamon bark, selling for more than 400 million VND.
"We use all this money to build roads, support poor households and reinvest in new planting. Big trees are harvested, small trees are planted, and thus poverty is pushed back" - Mr. Trieu Van Tho - Head of Vang Ngan village shared.
In addition, policy credit capital is also pouring heavily into renovating and upgrading houses. Mr. Giang A Lu - Head of the Economic Department, Son Luong commune informed that the outstanding debt of the Social Policy Bank in the commune has now reached more than 102 billion VND. This is a huge resource to help people build and expand production scale, shifting from self-sufficiency to commodity production.
Talking to reporters about the problem of poverty reduction in the "sprint" stage, Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh - Secretary of the Party Committee of Son Luong commune was worried but determined: "Poverty reduction in Son Luong does not "chase" after numerical achievements, but goes into substance. The "People's Resolution" set by the Party Committee of the commune requires cadres and party members to be exemplary and go first. We assign each comrade in the Standing Committee and Executive Committee to be in charge of each village and each specific group of households. If poor households have not escaped poverty, the cadre in charge must be accountable. The biggest change now is not how much support money the commune has, but that people have learned to "feel proud" of poverty and have the aspiration to rise up."
The determination of the entire political system has been demonstrated by the "telling" numbers at the end of the year. If at the beginning of 2025, the whole commune still had 422 poor households (accounting for 16.61%) and 118 near-poor households (accounting for 4.61%), then up to now, all efforts to reduce poverty have reaped substantial results.
According to the review results, it is estimated that by the end of December 2025, Son Luong commune will complete 100% of the set plan by reducing 209 poor households, bringing the poverty rate down to 8.33%; at the same time, the near-poor household rate will also decrease to 4.41%. This result is the "sweet fruit" from persistently implementing 5 key groups of solutions, in which priority is given to developing the agricultural and forestry value chain and the determination to eliminate the mentality of waiting and relying.
Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Pham Nguyen Binh further emphasized: "To reduce poverty sustainably and limit re-poverty due to natural disasters, we are guiding people to diversify their livelihoods. Short-term livelihoods support long-term livelihoods. Under the cinnamon forest canopy, plant cardamom and ginger, raise chickens and native black pigs. When the family economy has "many legs", storms, gusts of wind or price fluctuations will hardly make them re-poverty."
Leaving Son Luong when the afternoon sun gilded the immense cinnamon hills, we believed that, with the consensus of "Party's Will - People's Heart", the challenging goals set by the commune would soon be achieved. The newly built spacious houses, the fat cows in Vang Ngan, Nam Bieu... are happy signs, signaling a prosperous spring spreading across this highland.
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/dich-den-la-giam-ngheo-ben-vung-post888311.html
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