Pa U - New beginning, new fortune

In the early autumn days, along the road to Pa U, the mountain ranges connect like a solid wall embracing the villages, the terraced fields are red-tailed as if promising the people here another successful harvest. A Pa U that used to be in a state of famine, obscured by the smoke of "brown fairy" is now changing.

People of Pha Bu village, Pa U commune take care of cinnamon trees.

Pa U is a border commune of Lai Chau province with an area of ​​over ^444km2 and over 41km of border adjacent to Yunnan province (China). The commune has more than 6,000 people living, most of whom are La Hu people - one of the most backward and disadvantaged ethnic groups in the country. In the past, when mentioning Pa U, people immediately remembered the seasons of hunger and famine, the wandering figures whose souls were sent by the "brown fairy", and the unfinished dreams of change from generation to generation.

I still remember, in 2010, Mr. Phan Xa Cho in Tan Bien village (he has passed away now) explained: La is a squirrel, Hu is a tiger, La Hu means a nation as fast as a squirrel, as strong as a tiger. And yet… at that time, officers and soldiers of Lai Chau Border Guard had to make a journey of “50 days and nights towards the border” to establish villages, build houses, then go into the forests and mountainsides to “invite” people to settle down and settle down.

Mo Chi villagers develop concentrated livestock farming

Why were Pa U in general and the La Hu people in Pa U at that time poor, hungry, and backward? It was because they lived in isolation, they were addicted to opium and they were used to shifting cultivation and nomadic living. At that time, the number of opium addicts in Pa U was the highest in the province, almost every village had dozens of addicts. Men were addicted, women were also addicted. Even commune officials and teachers, probably because of the lack of food and the remote villages, also inhaled that magical smoke.

In addition, due to the nomadic lifestyle, the La Hu people are also known as the "yellow leaf people". Simply because after each season of changing leaves, sometimes even when the roof leaves have just turned yellow, people move their camps because there is nothing left to hunt and gather! That is why after each season of yellow leaves, people are more isolated from the outside world . So they are hungry, so they are poor. Not to mention, less than 3 years ago, in 2022, the poverty rate here was still up to 81.85%.

Pa U commune leaders inspected the cold water fish farming model in the area.

But that is a thing of the past, Pa U now has a new beginning, a new opportunity. From July 1, Ta Ba commune and Pa U commune were merged into a new commune called Pa U. This arrangement is not a mechanical accumulation but a push for Pa U to "change its skin". The new government apparatus has just been streamlined and supplemented with people with high management capacity. Currently, 100% of civil servants have high school qualifications, more than 96% have university qualifications, 90% have political theory qualifications... these are the important cores, the premise for this land to flourish.

According to the political report presented to the Party Congress of Pa U commune, the commune currently has a growth rate of 8.3%. Rural infrastructure has been invested synchronously. More than 72% of the internal roads have been paved; children go to school with an average attendance rate of 97% per year, and an attendance rate of more than 94%... In particular, Pa U has exploited the potential of hydropower with 4 completed projects, 15 other projects under construction or planned, promising to bring in a stable source of budget revenue, create jobs and lead to service development.

One of the very encouraging signs for Pa U is that by the end of 2025, the poverty rate is forecast to be 63.99%. This figure, if compared to other communes of Lai Chau, is probably still far behind; however, if looking at the starting point of the La Hu people here, it can be seen that this is a remarkable achievement.

Ginseng development model in the ginseng garden of Po Group, Pa U commune.

Currently in Pa U, there are the first billionaires, who started from nothing. That is Mr. Po Lo Hu (Tan Bien village) with assets up to billions of dong. Just talking about the amount of rice he harvests every year up to many tons, the number of livestock he has in the hundreds, the area of ​​medicinal plants, spices he has in the dozens of hectares, his family also has nearly ten motorbikes, he has to buy a large truck to transport agricultural products... is enough to understand how rich he is.

Sharing with us, Po Lo Hu honestly said: "What we want most is for our lives to change, for our villages to develop, and hopefully merging communes or changing the new government apparatus will bring about even stronger changes. A government that is for the people, close to the people, and understands the people is a good condition for us to continue to rise up."

In the conversation with Mr. Nguyen Khanh Yen, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, we understand that in the minds of this group of young and dynamic commune officials are very ambitious goals. That is, the average income per capita reaches 30 million VND/year, then strives to reduce the poverty rate by 6% each year, strives that by 2030 this commune in the highlands, remote areas, and border areas will complete 15/19 criteria for building new rural areas...

Of course, those ambitions are not overnight, but according to the report, the commune is currently restructuring the agricultural sector, aiming at medicinal plants, Lai Chau ginseng planted under the forest canopy, expanding joint ventures and partnerships to consume products... Those things are completely possible, a new start, a new determination will certainly bring this land a new future.

Tran Anh Tuan

Source: https://nhandan.vn/pa-u-khoi-dau-moi-van-hoi-moi-post911119.html