Helping farmers reduce poverty sustainably.

Along with the task of building a strong association, over the years, the Viet Tri City Farmers' Association has made many efforts in supporting farmers, most notably in supporting the construction of many "Farmers' Solidarity Houses" as well as providing capital for production and business development. This has yielded many positive results, helping farmers to become wealthy and achieve sustainable poverty reduction.

The "Farmers' Solidarity House" was built for the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Quy in Zone 1, Kim Duc Commune, with support from the Viet Tri City Farmers' Association, local authorities, and various organizations.

Kim Duc commune has 1,384 farmer association members, of which 3 households remain poor. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Quy's family in Zone 1 is one of the remaining 3 poor farming households in the commune. This year, Mrs. Quy is 73 years old; her husband, Mr. Nguyen Van Than, passed away a year ago due to a brain tumor. Previously, Mrs. Quy and her husband worked in farming and livestock raising. The seasonal and unstable work, coupled with poor health, made life difficult, so they lived in a dilapidated temporary house.

In 2023, implementing the policy of eliminating temporary housing in the area, the Kim Duc Commune Farmers' Association advised the local government to coordinate with other organizations to mobilize resources and build a new, spacious house for Mrs. Quy and her husband. On June 27, 2023, construction began with support from the Viet Tri City Farmers' Association, the Viet Tri City Youth Union, and contributions from relatives and family. After more than a month of intensive construction, the sturdy single-story house, including a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom, was completed.

The "Farmers' Solidarity House" is a great source of comfort and encouragement for the elderly couple. They now have a place to settle down and focus on their work to support themselves in their old age. Comrade Nguyen Thanh Tuan, Chairman of the Kim Duc Commune People's Committee, stated: "Housing for residents is one of the important criteria in the process of building advanced new rural areas in Kim Duc commune. Spacious and safe housing contributes to improving the rural landscape and raising the quality of life for the people. Various associations, including the Farmers' Association, have actively contributed to the effort to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses in the area."

Besides providing financial support for housing construction, the Viet Tri City Farmers' Association also assists farmers with loans to develop production and business. Kim Duc commune is one of the localities with a large agricultural land area in the city. Due to its topographical characteristics, people can only cultivate one rice crop per year, with the other crop yielding low economic returns due to flooding. Therefore, a relatively large area of ​​agricultural land is left fallow during the cropping season.

Faced with this situation, the Party Committee and People's Committee of Kim Duc commune issued a policy to convert 60 hectares of land from rice cultivation to aquaculture. In 2024, the Viet Tri City Farmers' Association disbursed 500 million VND to support 10 members of the aquaculture professional association to expand the area and improve the quality of their products.

The single-crop aquaculture model of the Kim Duc Commune Farmers' Association was financed with loans from the farmers' support fund.

Pointing towards the Cày field (Zone 9, Kim Đức commune), Mr. Nguyen Trung Chinh - Director of the Kim Đức General Service Cooperative and also one of the 10 members of the aquaculture professional association - said: “In just one month, bountiful catches of fish will be brought up here. Ten years ago, this field was covered with thick layers of water hyacinth during the harvest season. Thanks to the bold transformation, each year, the aquaculture area alone yields approximately 6 tons of fish per hectare per season, with economic efficiency dozens of times higher than rice cultivation.”

To promote the leading role of farmers in agricultural development, rural economy, and new rural construction, Viet Tri City has established 13 clubs of skilled farmers in production and business, with 7,621 farming households registering for the title of skilled producers and business owners at all levels in 2024. Many household economic models, branches, and professional farmers' associations help each other form product consumption linkage chains, bringing high economic efficiency.

Comrade Phan Thanh Duong - Chairman of the Viet Tri City Farmers' Association, said: “Currently, the city's farmers' support fund has disbursed 4.1 billion VND to 85 households for 12 projects. In the coming time, the Association will continue to coordinate with the Social Policy Bank branch in the province to effectively implement credit programs for lending to poor households and other policy beneficiaries. In addition, the Association has channeled loan capital through 43 savings groups to 1,264 households with a total outstanding loan balance of 41.1 billion VND.”

The replication of successful production and business models, along with the efficient disbursement of capital, are practical actions that contribute to sustainable poverty reduction and make a positive contribution to the new rural development of Viet Tri City.

Thuy Trang

Source: https://baophutho.vn/giup-nong-dan-giam-ngheo-ben-vung-221182.htm