Pioneering on a new front

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - Always carrying within them the unwavering will and qualities of a soldier of Uncle Ho, many veterans in Thanh Hoa, despite their advanced age and declining health, still strive to develop their family's economy and contribute to the development of the locality.

With his integrated economic model, war veteran Lu Dinh Khang in Tinh Gia ward has become a shining example of economic development in the locality.

Small in stature but agile and energetic, his face glistening with sweat from hard work in the sun – that was our first impression when we met veteran Lu Dinh Khang in Tinh Gia ward. Beginning his story about building his business, Mr. Khang shared: “My life is closely tied to the fields, so I decided to get rich from the local land. Since 1992, after researching and finding that fish fry were easy to raise and sell, I decided to start my business with this model. After 8 years of successfully raising fish fry and mature fish, but with a slowing market, I decided to change direction. Still clinging to the agricultural roots passed down from my ancestors, I switched to raising ducks and geese in large quantities in the fields.”

A turning point marked a shift in the economic development of veteran Lu Dinh Khang when he boldly ventured into large-scale pig farming, raising 400-500 pigs. In addition, he combined this with raising buffaloes, cattle, pigeons, chickens, ducks, and snails for breeding and commercial purposes. Even in his twilight years, despite his comfortable financial situation, veteran Lu Dinh Khang did not rest. Every day, he and his wife diligently and industriously worked. Through their hard work and persistent labor, Lu Dinh Khang's integrated economic model yielded sweet rewards, generating an annual profit of 500-600 million VND.

Growing up by the sea, no matter where he went or what he did, veteran Le Van Thap from Tien Trang commune always chose to return to the sea to make a living. Starting with the rafts he invested in for local fishermen to brave the waves, to buying all the seafood they caught for processing and selling, his products gained the trust of many customers, leading to increasingly large sales volumes. With carefully saved capital and after many years of hard work and dedication to the profession, in 2010, veteran Le Van Thap decided to establish Thap Thuan Phat Co., Ltd., with himself as director.

"I process whatever seafood is available, so the company's products are quite diverse, including fish, shrimp, anchovies, squid, fish sauce, jellyfish... Thanks to strict adherence to processing procedures, the company's products are increasingly establishing their brand, and the market is not limited to the province but is gradually expanding to other provinces and cities," Mr. Thap shared.

Recognizing the increasing number of tourists from both within and outside the province visiting his hometown's coastal area, Mr. Thap quickly seized this opportunity and gradually shifted from purchasing and processing seafood to engaging in tourism services. With the motto "prioritizing reputation and quality," his company's tourism service area has attracted a large number of tourists for relaxation and dining. A profit of over 1 billion VND per year is a great success for veteran Le Van Thap in innovating and improving his business capabilities, conquering the tourism market amidst fierce competition to establish himself.

As a province with a large number of war veterans, nearly 21,000 members, the work of the war veterans' association and the movement in Thanh Hoa province has continuously developed with many important achievements in various fields. In particular, the movement "War veterans helping each other reduce poverty and excel in economic activities" has spread widely with many different types of production and business. To achieve this result, the war veterans' associations at all levels in the province have propagated and mobilized members to actively change crop seasons, introduce high-value crops and livestock into production and breeding, and organized many training courses to transfer scientific and technical advancements to war veterans. In addition, during the period 2019-2024, the associations at all levels received entrusted funds from the Social Policy Bank and mobilized other capital sources totaling nearly 3,000 billion VND for members to borrow for production and business development. In addition, the entire province has established 268 "Veterans' Clubs for Mutual Economic Development" with 3,797 members participating to help each other with capital, production and business experience, product markets, and building linkages in commodity production...

With the support of the association and the efforts of each member, the province now has more than 700 small and medium-sized enterprises, 230 cooperatives, nearly 1,500 farms, over 5,000 family farms, and nearly 7,000 service businesses owned by war veterans, creating regular jobs for more than 61,000 workers. In the context of a volatile market economy, many war veteran members have overcome difficulties, maintained and expanded production and business, contributed to economic growth, and actively participated in local movements and campaigns. During the period 2019-2024, 2,746 war veteran households in the province rose to a relatively high or wealthy status, bringing the percentage of relatively high or wealthy war veteran households to 60.14%, higher than the provincial average.

Concluding the five-year "Exemplary Veterans" emulation movement from 2019-2024, the Thanh Hoa Veterans Association was honored to receive the Emulation Flag for Outstanding Unit from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Veterans Association. This is a very encouraging achievement, demonstrating the willpower, resilience, and courage of the soldiers of Uncle Ho. Whether in wartime or peacetime, veterans have always upheld the spirit of solidarity, the will to excel in economic activities, and contributed positive values ​​to society.

Text and photos: Minh Khoi

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tien-phong-tren-mat-tran-moi-256543.htm