Khanh Hoa is "green".

Khanh Hoa commune (Lao Cai province) - a peaceful countryside, lush with forests, fruit trees, and fields - is the result of the emulation movement to build new rural areas.

Khanh Hoa commune (Lao Cai province) – a peaceful, verdant countryside teeming with forests, fruit trees, and fields – is the result of the emulation movement to build new rural areas. This area was established by merging four communes: An Lac, Dong Quan, To Mau, and Khanh Hoa, formerly part of Luc Yen district, Yen Bai province. This new space opens up opportunities for the commune to redefine its comprehensive, modern, and sustainable development model – with the overarching goal of building Khanh Hoa into a "green, harmonious, distinctive, and happy" place.

The green color of the forests

From Yen Bai ward, the car sped along National Highway 70 for about 80 kilometers, taking me to Khanh Hoa commune. The scene that unfolded before my eyes was one of vast forests, with cinnamon, pine, and bodhi trees densely covering the hillsides.

As a locality with a long tradition of forestry development, Khanh Hoa recognizes that afforestation not only provides income but also serves as a solution for protecting the living environment.

Over the past five years, the commune has planted 730 hectares of new forest, achieving 123.7% of the plan. The area of ​​forest planted according to FSC sustainable standards is expanding, creating a high-value source of raw materials for processing and export.

In particular, the area of ​​organic cinnamon cultivation – one of the local specialty products – has exceeded 100 hectares, concentrated in villages such as Kim Long, Lang Khuong, and Lang Chap… This direction not only enhances economic value but also helps people access the market for clean agricultural and forestry products, meeting the trend of sustainable consumption.

Leading us on a tour of the production forests, Le Viet Dai, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Khanh Hoa commune, proudly shared: “Forestry is a strength of the commune. Many households have become well-off or wealthy from forest planting. In the next term, the commune will continue to expand production models associated with sustainable forestry development, such as planting bamboo shoots, mulberry trees, FSC-certified forests; developing products from planted forest wood and processing cinnamon essential oil. These are the 'green spearheads' that contribute to making forestry a pillar of the ecological economy.”

"Green" from a production mindset

"Green" is not only present in the forests, but also in every field, garden, and farm. Khanh Hoa has been strongly shifting from self-sufficient production to commodity production in an organic, safe, and circular manner.

Visiting the integrated farming model (garden - pond - livestock - forest) of Ms. Ha Thi Thuy's family in Lang Dung village, I was impressed by the pig farm system, which houses nearly 100 pigs and ensures environmental hygiene thanks to a biogas digester for waste treatment. The farm is surrounded by a fence that provides warmth in winter and coolness in summer.

Ms. Thuy shared: “Previously, my family raised livestock in simple pens, making it easy for insects to approach the animals and cause disease. After investing in enclosed pens and building a biogas system, the living environment is better ensured, and the livestock are not affected by disease.”

Like Ms. Thuy, many farming households in Khanh Hoa commune have been educated and guided on producing goods in an organic, safe, and circular manner, achieving clear economic efficiency and creating impressive figures in 2025. Specifically, the commune's total food production reached 9,671 tons, exceeding the target by 107%, and the output of live meat for slaughter exceeded the plan by 117%.

Khanh Hoa's "green" status reflects the vibrant energy of its local agricultural sector, which is undergoing a transformation in its mindset. Agricultural products such as mandarin oranges, purple sweet potatoes, and honey are not only developing into OCOP (One Commune One Product) products but also convey the message of green agriculture – where clean products are the foundation, connecting with the protection of public health and the living environment.

In the near future, Khanh Hoa commune plans to expand its citrus fruit growing area to 100 hectares, its purple sweet potato growing area to 20 hectares, its mulberry cultivation and silkworm farming area to 25 hectares on land with difficult irrigation, and develop specialty aquaculture products such as sturgeon and honeybees... All of these are linked to safe, organic farming models, applying science and technology to reduce emissions and improve economic efficiency.

Following the principle of "infrastructure comes first, development follows," Khanh Hoa has invested systematically and comprehensively in transportation, electricity, water, public works, and digital infrastructure. To date, the entire province has 85.681 km of rural concrete roads, facilitating the transportation of agricultural products and connecting different regions.

Modernizing production must be linked to environmental protection. Accordingly, Khanh Hoa commune focuses on collecting and processing household waste. By 2025, the rate of solid waste collected and processed will reach 77%, with 65% of households practicing waste sorting at source – a very positive figure in rural areas.

The goal for the 2025-2030 period is to maintain forest cover at 76.6%, strengthen pollution monitoring, utilize renewable energy, and promote a circular economy in agricultural production. A series of green projects are being supported and implemented, such as biomass power plants, pellet processing from agricultural by-products, and cinnamon essential oil production, promising to generate new revenue and contribute to green growth.

Economic growth is linked to the happiness index.

Khanh Hoa province is not pursuing mere growth figures, but rather aiming for growth accompanied by happiness. This is clearly reflected in the targets for the 2025-2030 term: the happiness index of the people reaching 72.5%; the rate of people participating in health insurance reaching 97%; the rate of cultured households reaching 88%, and cultured villages reaching 90%.

The Party Secretary of the commune, Nong Thu Ha, affirmed: With the fully invested education, healthcare, culture, and sports systems, the people of Khanh Hoa not only have "enough to eat," but also "safety," "access to education," "care," and "live in a clean environment"—core values ​​that create a sustainable and humane society.

From vast forested hills to lush green fields that remain vibrant all year round, from environmentally friendly biomass power plants to tree-lined rural roads… Khanh Hoa is gradually proving that green development is not a temporary solution, but an inevitable path to a prosperous and happy future.

Under the leadership of the commune Party Committee, with the consensus of the people and the support of businesses, Khanh Hoa is and will be a shining example in Lao Cai in realizing the model of a new-style rural area, developing in the direction of "green - harmonious - distinctive - happy".

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/khanh-hoa-xanh-post888143.html