The dream of escaping poverty of the people in the highlands of Quang Ngai

From support to aspiration to rise

Through projects supporting community production development from the National Target Program on New Rural Development, socio -economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, the goal of sustainable poverty reduction implemented in Son Tay district (Quang Ngai province) has been bringing positive signals.

Through the project's funding, many households have had the opportunity to develop production, increase income, open the door to escape poverty and change the lives of the people here.

Mr. Dinh Van Thien received support from the state for two breeding cows.

In a simple stilt house in Huy Em village (Son Mua commune, Son Tay district), Mr. Dinh Van Thien could not hide his joy when talking about the two breeding cows that the State supported not long ago. “They are worth more than 40 million VND. Having cows gives me more motivation to do business. Before, I did not think about doing business, now that I see a direction, I will try to rise up,” Mr. Thien confided.

Mr. Thien said that not only was he provided with cow breeds, he was also supported with materials to build barns and participated in training on animal care and disease prevention techniques. Although newly implemented, the cow raising model has created a livelihood for his family to escape poverty sustainably.

Mr. Thien is one of dozens of households in Son Mua commune benefiting from Project 3 "Developing sustainable agricultural and forestry production" under the National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Thanks to state support, many families in the highlands of Quang Ngai will rise up to develop their economy.

In 2024, Son Mua commune implemented 5 breeding cow projects, with a total budget of 2.4 billion VND. Accordingly, 82 breeding cows were provided to 41 households belonging to the poor, near-poor and economic households. After a period of providing breeding cows to beneficiaries, the cows are now growing and developing well. Household groups operate the project effectively.

Not only Son Mua commune, many other communes in Son Tay district are also implementing similar projects. In Son Long commune, the local government has supported ruby ​​guava varieties for 8 households, banana trees for 18 households and 2 pig raising models with a total of 20 households participating.

In Son Long commune (Son Tay district), there are 2 pig farming models with a total of 20 participating households.

“At first, people were hesitant, but when they saw the pigs growing well, everyone was excited. Many households started to plan to expand their scale, develop their economy and escape poverty,” said Dinh Van Ben, a household participating in the pig farming model.

Obvious changes

Through projects supporting community production development from the National Target Programs on New Rural Development, socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, and sustainable poverty reduction, Son Tay district currently has more than 200 production development groups, each group has from 10 to 12 participating households.

The models are selected based on the potential and actual needs of the people, focusing on suitable crops and livestock such as cows, pigs, bananas, guavas, etc. These seedlings are both easy to adapt to local conditions and have high commodity value, creating the premise for forming a stable production and consumption chain.

Visit the banana garden of the people.

This is not just an economic story, what is easily seen from projects supporting community production development is a strong change in people's awareness. Many households that previously depended on forests and subsidies have now proactively sought out, learned techniques, and applied knowledge in practice. During training sessions, people actively exchanged and shared experiences. They also began to form a sense of production association and mutual support instead of doing business individually as before.

The implementation of production support projects has created a great driving force to promote ethnic minority and mountainous areas in Son Tay district to develop production according to value chains suitable for each region. Exploiting potential advantages in the direction of effectively transforming the structure of crops and livestock, creating jobs, increasing income, and sustainably reducing poverty for people.

Mr. Dinh Truong Giang - Vice Chairman of Son Tay District People's Committee said that one of the factors that contributed to the initial success of the projects was community cohesion. Each household group has a group leader, responsible for urging, guiding and connecting members. The selection of the group leader is carefully considered, ensuring that the person is reputable, knowledgeable about the area and has leadership ability.

Officials and people exchange and share experiences.

According to Mr. Giang, the biggest goal is to create change from the root - that is, the production mindset of the people, because the majority of the people in the district are ethnic minorities. When people understand that escaping poverty is not just about receiving subsidies but about creating wealth themselves, then the projects will truly be sustainable. We clearly see that people have begun to change. They are no longer passive but proactive in farming and finding outlets for their products.

“The locality hopes that through the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Program, which has been implemented in phase 1, it will be expanded in the coming time to areas with many difficulties, mostly ethnic minorities. The local government also requests that the Central Government and the province continue to pay attention to implementing phase 2, supporting the people to have further development orientations, helping poor and near-poor households to rise up,” Mr. Giang added.

Nguyen Ngoc

Source: https://tienphong.vn/giac-mo-thoat-ngheo-cua-nguoi-dan-vung-cao-quang-ngai-post1742214.tpo