Muong Lan strives to build a new rural area.

After years of effort in implementing the new rural development program, Muong Lan border commune has completed 9 out of 19 criteria for the 2021-2025 period and achieved 1 out of 10 planning criteria in the set of new rural development criteria for the 2026-2030 period. Currently, the commune's Party committee and government are setting specific goals, mobilizing all resources, and integrating programs, projects, and funding sources to complete each criterion according to the plan.

The Sop Cop branch of the Social Policy Bank provides loans to the people of Muong Lan commune for economic development.

As a particularly disadvantaged border commune in Son La province, primarily inhabited by ethnic minorities, Muong Lan commune has developed a specific roadmap for achieving the criteria of the New Rural Development Program, starting from a low baseline. To meet these criteria, the commune has established a detailed roadmap for each stage. Mr. Pham Anh Dao, Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong Lan commune, stated: "In the 2026-2028 period, the commune will focus on implementing three criteria: rural economic development; poverty reduction and social security; and rural environment and landscape. With the motto of maximizing internal resources, the commune has directed villages to organize meetings to mobilize people's contributions to implement the criteria, prioritizing those that are easier and require less capital. Commune officials with expertise have been assigned to advise on solutions for each criterion, coordinating with villages to review and assess difficulties and obstacles in order to address them and gradually complete the criteria."

The road from the center of Muong Lan commune to Cong village has been paved with concrete.

Recognizing economic development as a decisive factor, Muong Lan commune focuses on promoting the conversion of low-economic-efficiency crops to new crops with high productivity and quality. By 2025, the commune aims to convert nearly 80 hectares of low-efficiency land to fruit trees and coffee plantations, concentrated in Na Khi, Na Vac, and Cong villages. Currently, the entire commune cultivates over 370 hectares of fruit trees, yielding over 500 tons; 57 hectares of coffee, of which 36 hectares are producing, with a yield of over 10 tons of fresh fruit per hectare. It continues to maintain 216 hectares of rice, with a yield of 5 tons per hectare; and 300 hectares of cassava, producing over 6,000 tons. In addition, the commune also guides people to develop livestock and poultry farming in the direction of concentrated family farms and large-scale farms; maintaining and developing over 7,800 buffaloes and cows. 3,700 pigs; 42,800 head of poultry of all kinds.

Mr. Lo Van Thuong, Party Secretary and Head of Muong Lan village, Muong Lan commune, said: The village has mobilized the people to change the structure of crops and livestock towards commodity production; in particular, planting more than 15 hectares of fruit trees, increasing the area of ​​fruit trees to 35 hectares, mainly late-ripening longan and Taiwanese mango varieties, with a yield of more than 60 tons of fruit per year. At the end of 2023, after some households in the village participated in a working group from the commune to visit a rabbit farming model in Song Ma commune, the people in the village invested in building rabbit breeding cages. To date, the village has 5 households raising rabbits with a number of 300-500 rabbits. The lives of the people in the village are increasingly improving, with an average income of 30 million VND/person/year by 2025, and there are no temporary houses in the village.

Farmers in Muong Lan village, Muong Lan commune, are tending to their coffee plants.

Regarding the criteria for rural environment and landscape, Muong Lan commune focuses on disseminating information and mobilizing people to build clean water facilities, hygienic domestic water storage tanks, and ensure the "three clean" standards; encouraging people to sign commitments to protect the environment, build livestock pens, and livestock waste treatment systems. At the same time, it promotes and mobilizes people to contribute funds along with the commune's resources to sign an agreement with the Urban Environment and Services Joint Stock Company - Sop Cop Branch to collect waste, ensuring that the rate of sorted, collected, and treated household solid waste reaches over 80%; and the rate of direct landfilling of household solid waste is below 50%.

To implement poverty reduction and social welfare criteria, the commune directs its affiliated organizations and associations to guide people in accessing preferential loan sources from the Social Policy Bank to restructure crop production and expand production. Currently, the commune has a total outstanding loan balance of over 65 billion VND, with over 1,100 households borrowing. Simultaneously, it effectively integrates and utilizes capital from sub-projects under the national target program for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas to organize awareness campaigns on gender equality and prevention and response to gender-based violence; and provides training on caring for, nurturing, and assisting children with special circumstances in Muong Lan commune.

Farmers in Muong Lan village, Muong Lan commune, are developing a model for breeding rabbits.

The family of Mr. Vi Van Son, from Cong village, Muong Lan commune, is one of the first households in the village to convert 1.5 hectares of land previously used for growing corn and cassava to planting longan trees intercropped with coffee. Mr. Son said: "In 2021, implementing the grafted longan model with support from the Sustainable Poverty Reduction Program, my family planted 100 longan trees; the trees are developing well, yielding more than 1.5 tons of fruit annually. In 2022, I borrowed an additional 100 million VND from the Social Policy Bank to plant more coffee trees. In the last two years, the price of coffee has risen to 26-28 thousand VND/kg, helping my family have a stable additional income of over 300 million VND per year."

With the motto "Taking the easier tasks first, then the more difficult ones," Muong Lan commune continues to unite, mobilize the combined strength of all resources, and is determined to realize the goal of achieving the new rural development target by 2030. In this process, Muong Lan commune hopes to receive support from all levels and sectors to complete the new rural development program according to the set plan.

Source: https://baosonla.vn/nong-thon-moi/muong-lan-no-luc-xay-dung-nong-thon-moi-pyBPINbDg.html