Sketching the portrait of Major Le Duc An, for me at this time, only the phrase "professional farmer" is true to the nature and requirements of agricultural , rural and farmer innovation today. Coming from a farmer background, becoming a military officer, then returning to being a farmer is a process of self-study, constantly thinking and enriching his experience, party member Le Duc An spreads the spirit of getting rich, community responsibility, and love for the fields to the farmers of Phu Van countryside.
From him, in Phu Van now formed a team of professional farmers, mastering agricultural economic models, large-scale commodity production, having good management capacity, implementing GAP (Good Agricultural Practice), gradually building high-tech agriculture. They have turned the land that always faced difficulties in production, unstable efficiency, and did not bring a prosperous life to families in the past, into a famous flower village embraced by rivers, both producing and developing tourism...
Deciding to retire early and leave Hanoi to return to his hometown, Major Le Duc An had many concerns and plans in mind. At that time, his village 5, Phu Van commune, was a poor village, with the income of the people being the lowest or second lowest in the commune. There was land, but most of the area could only produce one crop a year. Mr. An spent many sleepless nights, holding onto the little money he had saved after many years of working to invest in economic development, nurturing the dream of getting rich from abandoned land...
In 2010, Phu Van was still a commune facing many difficulties in economic development. This was the "hollow" of Kim Bang district before 2000 and of Phu Ly city at that time due to unfavorable traffic conditions. It was surrounded on all sides by rivers and lakes. To get to Phu Van, one had to cross bridges. Mr. Le Duc An's house was in village 5, along the dike of Cut River - commonly known as the ancient river by locals. It was a branch of the Day River that used to run from the ferry terminal in village 1 to village 5, gradually drying up to become rice fields. That year, Mr. An was 44 years old, a military officer, belonging to the Air Defense - Air Force Command, and applied for early retirement, deciding to return to his hometown. Seeing the villagers working hard all year round but still having difficulties, few people had enough to eat or save, Mr. An was very anxious. Most of the land of the commune and village was outside the dike, so it was always threatened by floods, most of them could only grow one crop. Mr. An asked the commune and the city for permission to renovate and build a bank on a piece of land along the Cut River to grow flowers and ornamental plants. This land was more than 4 meters lower than the dike. He did not have much capital, only about one hundred million VND saved during his working career, and invested it in this entire area for production and business. At the same time, he joined the Veterans Association and the Farmers Association of Phu Van commune to expand relationships, create conditions for exchange, and learn practical experiences from other members.
The restructuring of the agricultural economy and service sector in rural areas has had many positive changes at this time after the commune implemented the Resolution of the 26th Party Congress, term 2010-2015 with the goal of "further accelerating the economic development speed, ensuring high and sustainable growth, shifting the economic structure towards increasing the proportion of trade services, developing new urban areas, eco-tourism, reducing the proportion of agriculture". Along with that is the implementation of the New Rural Development Program for the period 2009-2011.
Grasping the commune's policy, combined with many years of experience in economic management in the army, Mr. An quickly turned the swampy rice field along the river into an ecological garden with ornamental plants of high economic value. Partly, he built a fish pond, implementing the motto "taking short-term to support long-term". Importantly, Mr. An always understood what he wanted to do and when he wanted to do it, he had to do it. Village 5 has a traditional flower growing profession, but due to difficulties in irrigation, people were afraid of crop failure, so no one dared to develop this profession to its full potential.
He knew before that, in 2005, a famous high-tech flower growing project in greenhouses was implemented by the commune in collaboration with the Central Institute of Vegetables and Fruits with an area of 2,200m2 for the first time in the locality. Mr. Nguyen Ba Tang's family was chosen as a model to promote the movement of renovating mixed gardens and developing VAC. But after only a few years, the project ended without being expanded and developed further. Therefore, when building the New Rural Area, Phu Van commune chose Mr. An's model as a model, believing that if this model was built and developed successfully, it would create conditions to urge farmers to realize their dream of getting rich in their own homeland.
While managing his family and struggling with difficulties for his father’s dream of restoring his “honey land”, Mr. An had to sweat and cry with difficult calculations to succeed. Fortunately, he always smiled, was optimistic and hopeful.
“Honestly! I don’t think that if it weren’t for Mr. An, it would be difficult for anyone else to change the entire dike area into a promising eco-tourism area for Phu Van in particular and the city in general. Because for many years, in that area, people only grew potatoes and corn, with very poor results. Many low-lying areas were too empty to do anything, and people left them uncultivated. Every July, the water would rise and flood everything… Only a brave, capable person with an economic mindset could do Mr. An’s model.” – Mr. Tran Duy Vinh, former Secretary of the Phu Van Commune Party Committee (before 2005) affirmed.
In the eyes of the gentle farmers of this land, Mr. An is so special, so special that no one understands “why he left the city to return to the village, from an officer in a neat suit, to a hard-working farmer day and night”. The young men in the village who used to “leisurely” spend all day in tea shops, now see him working impatiently, stand up to learn his way of doing business and learn. Some were hired by him to work, pruning trees, carrying pots, planting flowers, taking care of fish… and gradually stabilized their lives.
The area was gradually expanded by renting land from households to 7,800m2. Mr. An continued to ask the commune and city for permission to renovate and build embankments to prevent water from flowing into the garden to grow flowers and ornamental plants. In addition to expensive bonsai trees, he planted thousands of old rose bushes, potted chrysanthemums, gerberas... These were the types of flowers that people in the city and other places loved at that time. All day in the garden, Mr. An and his brothers endured the sun and rain, determined to turn this land into an eco-tourism area in the future.
“It was terrible! In October 2017, a heavy flood caused the entire area to be inundated. Nearly ten tons of snakehead fish in the pond were lost when ready to be harvested. But luckily, God forgave us, and during Tet that year, my family was able to sell 2,700 pots of old roses, chrysanthemums, and copper coins to recover our investment,” Mr. An recalled.
His ornamental flower growing model has become an effective model for the economic development of the commune in implementing the construction of the New Rural Area. From here, many ornamental flower gardens worth tens of billions of VND of farmers through business cooperation with Mr. An appeared. For example, the ornamental flower garden model of Mr. Pham Van Tam, Mr. Vu Ngoc Huy, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung... Or large flower growing models such as the Four Seasons Lotus model of Mr. Kien and Ms. Tu's family, the Kumquat tree of Mr. Tien and Ms. Hoa's family, the Ancient Rose, the Ornamental Rose of Mr. Dong and Ms. Mo's family, the Peach and Kumquat tree of Mr. Le Hong Son's family...
“It turns out that the blood of the Phu Van people to get rich is also boiling! As long as someone starts the movement, the farmers' movement to get rich is no less than anywhere else. The happiness that brings me now is not only the success in each personal plan but also the change in the thinking and business style of the farmers here, turning this land into a fertile land, a famous flower growing area next to legendary rivers.” – Mr. An proudly said!
Part 2: Promoting the role of setting an example
Giang Nam - Thanh Ha
Source
Comment (0)