Tay woman opens a way out of poverty for ethnic people in Bac Ninh

New direction

On a weekend afternoon, the golden sunshine spreads across the rice fields in An Lac commune ( Bac Ninh province). Ms. Phan Thi Vinh works hard in the fields. This Tay ethnic woman has turned 50, but has not thought about "retirement".

“I still love the fields, still want to get rich, and don’t want to rest. I’m still healthy so I still want to strive to make money . I have to do it so that others will believe what I say,” Ms. Vinh began the story.

With a gentle smile, Ms. Vinh shared that An Lac commune is a remote area, with many ethnic minorities living there. People's lives are still difficult. Before, when they first started their family, she and her husband were very poor. At that time, there was not enough food to eat. Because they were so poor, they did not dare to have many children, only one.

At that time, Vinh and her husband only had a little over a sao of rice fields, and they did not have enough rice to eat. They went into the forest to collect bamboo shoots, dig up roots of various plants to sell at the market to get money to buy rice, but it was still not enough to eat. They had to work for a living. They took turns going to Quang Ninh province to work for hire.

“My husband and I took turns going to Quang Ninh to do many jobs to earn money to support our family. We worked for half a month in Quang Ninh, and when we had some money, we brought it home to buy rice for our children, then went back to work in a foreign land,” Vinh confided.

Ms. Vinh is not only a good example of economic success but also helps many others escape poverty.

Her family's life began to change in 2010, when many people in the area went to work for companies, so the fields were left fallow. At that time, she borrowed the abandoned fields of her neighbors to work on. Thanks to that, her family had enough rice and no longer had to worry about food. But poverty still haunted her family. Her story of escaping poverty and becoming rich only began when she found a new direction.

It was 2019, when Ms. Vinh was participating in the local Women's Union. Through the union's work, she got to know good business models in other places, including the potato growing model in association with the company. This was a new model suitable for local conditions, so she started working on it.

At first, she cooperated with a company to grow several acres of potatoes. She invited people who had succeeded with this economic model in other places to work together to learn from their experiences and techniques. The first harvest yielded positive results. She continued to boldly expand the area. She also rented more fields from people in and outside the village to grow potatoes. Up to now, she grows more than 2 acres of potatoes per crop.

“The potato growing model helps me earn more than 100 million VND/crop. Thanks to that, my family has escaped poverty. Importantly, this economic model also opens up a new direction to help many people in the village escape poverty,” said Ms. Vinh.

Together with women to escape poverty

In recent years, An Lac commune has seen more and more potato fields, bringing in large incomes for farmers, especially ethnic minorities who are poor. This success is largely due to the contribution of Ms. Phan Thi Vinh.

Ms. Vinh is not only the pioneer in the model of growing potatoes in association with the company, but also popularizes this economic method to the villagers, especially the poor households. She said that when she first introduced the model of growing potatoes in association with the company to the villagers, they were still hesitant because they were afraid of the risks, so many did not want to do it.

Villagers learn from Ms. Vinh to grow potatoes in cooperation with the company, many of whom have escaped poverty.

“When I succeeded, I had money coming in and my family escaped poverty. At that time, the villagers started to believe in me and started growing potatoes in association with the company,” Vinh shared.

At first, 8 households in the village learned from Ms. Vinh to grow potatoes. The company provided seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and guaranteed the products. She kindly instructed them on how to do it and passed on her experience to the villagers. Thanks to that, the potato growers in the village had initial successes and additional income.

Seeing the effectiveness of this economic method, many people in the village learned from Ms. Vinh to grow potatoes. Each year, the number of people in the village growing potatoes increases. To date, there are 98 households in the village growing potatoes in association with the company, with an area of about 45 acres. Small households grow a few acres, large households grow more than 1 acre.

Ms. Vinh calculated that after deducting expenses, one sao of potatoes brings in a profit of about 4 million VND. Therefore, many families have an additional income of tens of millions of VND per potato crop. For poor households, this is a significant source of income, helping them escape poverty.

Ms. Pham Thi Hoi - President of the Women's Union of An Lac commune said that Ms. Phan Thi Vinh is a typical example of economic development and poverty reduction in the commune. What is valuable is that she also helps many ethnic minorities, especially poor households, develop a model of potato cultivation in association with companies to develop the economy. Thanks to that, many poor households in the commune have additional sources of income, helping them escape poverty and become rich.