Increase income for members.

The Dam Ha District Farmers' Association currently has 5,780 members, accounting for 72% of the district's population. With the goal of "A strong association, prosperous farmers," the District Farmers' Association actively supports its members with capital, transfers scientific and technological knowledge, and creates favorable conditions for them to develop their economy and increase their income.

Farmers from Dam Ha participated in the "Farmers Teaching Farmers" experience-sharing conference organized by the Provincial Farmers' Association in October 2024.

Thanks to various solutions to help members develop their economy, by the end of 2023, Dam Ha no longer had any poor farmer households, only 28 near-poor households, and the number of households with an income of 100 million VND/year or more is increasing.

Mr. Pham Van Thanh's household (Dong Tam village, Duc Yen commune) owns 13 hectares of agricultural land. Previously, due to a lack of investment capital, the land resources were not effectively exploited and utilized, leading to low and unstable income. In recent years, thanks to mobilizing various sources of capital, including preferential loans guaranteed by the District Farmers' Association with the District Social Bank, his family has developed a VAC (gardening, animal husbandry, and aquaculture) farm. Currently, the farm regularly raises about 30 breeding sows, nearly 4,000 egg-laying chickens and ducks; and grows various fruit trees such as persimmons, lychees, and longan…; bringing in a stable profit of over 500 million VND per year and providing employment for 5 local workers.

Implementing the district's fruit tree planting project, at the end of 2023, the District Agricultural Technical Service Center, in coordination with Truong Giang General Agricultural Production Cooperative, launched a passion fruit planting model on 3.5 hectares in Trai Dinh village (Dam Ha commune). Participating in the pilot model, the cooperative received 70% support from the district for seeds, fertilizers, irrigation systems, concrete posts, and planting techniques; the District Farmers' Association vouched for a loan of 120 million VND from the District Social Bank at an interest rate of 0.65%/year; and another 100 million VND was borrowed from the Farmers' Support Fund to purchase fertilizers and hire labor. Dang Van Giang, Director of the Cooperative, According to reports: After 6 months of planting, passion fruit is ready for harvest, with an average yield of 20 tons of fruit/ha/year, generating 400 million VND/ha, five times higher than growing vegetables previously.

The Dam Ha District Farmers' Association organized a visit for its members to a model of custard apple cultivation in Tien An commune (Quang Yen town).

To help members escape poverty sustainably and increase their income, in the first nine months of 2024, the Association actively propagated and mobilized officials, members, and the people to introduce new rice varieties (J02, ST25) and new crops with high yield, quality, and economic value (purebred PL2 grey oyster mushrooms, L29 peanuts, high-yield corn, etc.) into production; linked with businesses to implement a program of supplying fertilizers and animal feed on deferred payment terms; coordinated with specialized departments of the Provincial Farmers' Association, the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center, and the District Social Bank to organize seven training courses on association work and farmers' movements; pig farming techniques according to VietGAP standards; pruning, shaping, and pollination techniques for fruit trees; management skills, and selling products on e-commerce platforms and social media.

The Association, in coordination with the District Social Policy Bank, has effectively implemented entrusted lending, acting as a bridge to transfer preferential credit capital to members in need of loans for production development, income increase, and improved living standards. To date, all 9 communes and towns in the district have farmers' savings and loan groups, with a total outstanding entrusted loan balance managed by the Association of 102 billion VND across 36 groups and 1,249 borrowing households. The Association inspects and monitors to ensure that loan capital reaches the intended beneficiaries, is used for the right purposes, is effective, and there are no cases of overdue loans.

The Association is promoting the establishment of professional farmer branches and groups, creating a foundation for the development of collective economic forms (cooperatives, agricultural cooperatives), and enhancing the competitiveness of agricultural products. In the first nine months of 2024, the Association established 4 new professional branches and groups with 38 members; bringing the total to 17 professional branches and groups with 172 members. In 2024, the district aims to have 3,787 farmer households registered as excellent producers and business owners at all levels, striving for 2,879 households to achieve the title at the provincial, district, and grassroots levels.

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