Escaping poverty thanks to the golden sweet potato plant.

Border guards help people in Che Lau village plant yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes. Photo: Nguyen Chung.

Life changed thanks to… potatoes

Mr. Thao Van The, Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Na Meo commune, said that before migrating from Pu Nhi commune (Muong Lat district) to Che Lau village, the Mong people here still practiced shifting cultivation. They would clear forests, plant rice and corn, and wait for harvest – if they were lucky, they would have something to eat; if not, they would just have to accept it. In this way, the forests were devastated, but the lives of the people did not improve. Meanwhile, the fertile land around the village, suitable for irrigation, was left uncultivated, allowing weeds to grow freely.

After numerous failures with acacia and ginger plants, in 2018, Mr. The brought yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes to plant in Che Lau village. In the first two years, due to a lack of understanding of cultivation techniques and pest control, the sweet potato plants withered and died before producing tubers. As a result, all of Mr. The's savings and borrowed money from relatives were lost.

“I want to prove that people can lift themselves out of poverty on their own farmland in the village, and not rely forever on the support of the Party and the State,” Mr. The said. And “heaven did not let him down,” nearly 1 hectare of yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes belonging to Mr. The's family began to thrive thanks to the new cultivation techniques applied. Before harvesting, Mr. The single-handedly rode his motorbike to Quan Son district town and then Thanh Hoa city to find buyers.

Thanks to this success, in 2020, Mr. The's family earned over 80 million VND in profit from growing yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes. One year, two years... and then raising pigs and cows, Mr. Thao Van The's family now has one of the most spacious and well-built houses in Che Lau, partly thanks to the yellow-fleshed sweet potato crop.

Sow new hopes

Seeing that Mr. Thao Van The's sweet potato cultivation required little effort and capital, yet yielded significantly higher income compared to the arduous task of clearing forests for slash-and-burn farming in the remote mountains, many Mong ethnic households in Che Lau came to learn from him and seek his techniques. As a result, from nearly 1 hectare of yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes, the Mong people in Che Lau now cultivate nearly 3 hectares on the best land in the village. For example, the families of Mr. Thao Van Su and Mr. Thao Van Chu have planted over 1.5 hectares of yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes. This area has begun to yield high economic returns, promising a new path out of poverty.

Speaking about the lives of the villagers in recent years, Mr. Thao Van The said: “Now, the Mong people in Che Lau no longer clear forests to make land for slash-and-burn farming. Everyone stays in the village, focusing on intensive cultivation of many crops, with the main crop being the yellow-fleshed taro, and expanding livestock farming to develop the economy. Before long, all 66 Mong households in Che Lau will escape poverty.”

According to Mr. Pham Duc Luong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Na Meo commune, Che Lau village has 66 households and 307 inhabitants, all of whom are Mong ethnic people. The socio-economic life of the village is still facing many difficulties. Currently, the Quan Son District People's Committee is directing specialized departments and units to organize training and transfer of scientific and technical knowledge using simple, easy-to-understand, familiar, and suitable methods for cultivating yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes, tailored to the local people's learning conditions.

“We also sent agricultural officials from the commune to the villages to assess the situation and promptly resolve difficulties and obstacles so that people could trust and feel secure participating in production, increasing the area of ​​yellow-fleshed sweet potato cultivation. In addition, the district has also directed the specialized department to guide and assist communes and villages in developing OCOP products from yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes, creating a market-oriented commodity chain for the people and continuing to expand the area of ​​sweet potato cultivation in the next season,” Mr. Luong said.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/thoat-ngheo-tu-cay-khoai-long-vang-10292083.html