Farmers in Ho Chi Minh City unite and help each other get rich.

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the leading economic hubs and a center of science, technology, and engineering in the country. Besides developing industry, trade, and services, the City Party Committee and People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City always pay attention to encouraging and supporting investment in agricultural production development. The leadership of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association continuously innovates its content and methods of operation, actively supporting farmer members in developing effective production and business.

The Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association currently has 57,490 members, and the city's agriculture has made remarkable progress, developing in line with the direction of modern urban agriculture. Particularly noteworthy is the movement of farmers competing in excellent production and business, uniting to help each other get rich and achieve sustainable poverty reduction – a central and continuous movement of the farmers' association at all levels. Through this movement, many exemplary individuals have emerged, serving as role models of diligence, dynamism, creativity, and a spirit of overcoming difficulties, determined to enrich themselves and help the community.

The various levels of the Farmers' Association have replicated best practices, continuing to nurture and support the growing number of exemplary farmers, outstanding members, advanced models, and examples of skillful grassroots mobilization. During the past term, the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association honored 90 individuals as "Outstanding Farmers of Ho Chi Minh City," 6 as "Excellent Vietnamese Farmers," and 6 as " Scientists for Farmers."

The movement has promoted the economic role of households, production groups, and collective economies in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, salt production, small-scale handicrafts, and services; promoted the shift in the socio-economic structure of rural areas; and gradually implemented the program of shifting the agricultural economic structure towards urban agriculture. Through this, it has contributed to socio-economic development and participated in building new rural areas in the city. As a result, with the motto "using the people's strength to care for the people," the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association has leveraged the internal resources of 90 clubs of outstanding farmers in production and business, implemented 452 social welfare projects, assisted 12,238 poor and near-poor households, and, together with other associations, supported 3,189 households to overcome poverty and are striving to become wealthy.

Besides the advantages, the movement of farmers competing in excellent production and business, uniting to help each other get rich and sustainably reduce poverty still faces some difficulties. Prominent among these are the issues of rapidly decreasing agricultural land area and its intermingling within residential areas, thus hindering production; uneven quality of the movement across units, localities, and sectors; and the failure of members and farmers to fully utilize the city's strengths in science and technology for application in production…

To overcome these difficulties, in recent times, farmers' associations at all levels have strengthened innovation and improved the quality of information dissemination and promotion to encourage members to register and strive to achieve the title of "Excellent Farmer in Production and Business." They have proactively coordinated with departments, sectors, and localities to transfer new science and technology to farmers for application in production; and innovated vocational training, workshops, and technology transfer. In addition, farmers' associations at all levels have focused on coordinating the organization of agricultural product fairs and spring flower markets, contributing to introducing the city's characteristic agricultural products and OCOP products to consumers.

In particular, the association has recently taken the initiative to organize visits for farmers to successful production models both domestically and internationally, enabling members and farmers to improve their knowledge and skills and apply them to production. This links the movement of farmers competing in excellent production and business, uniting to help each other get rich and achieve sustainable poverty reduction, with the strengthening of the association in all aspects.

NGUYEN THANH XUAN (Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Farmers' Association)

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nong-dan-tphcm-doan-ket-giup-nhau-lam-giau-post719837.html