Proud of our livable countryside

(Baothanhhoa.vn) - Despite uneven starting points and numerous difficulties, the New Rural Development program in the province, through sound policies and appropriate methods, has unleashed the internal strength of the people and achieved encouraging results in this new development phase. This is the foundation for each locality to continue to accelerate its progress, becoming friendly and livable rural areas.

A view of the model new rural commune of Hoằng Thái (now Hoằng Lộc commune).

A vibrant new rhythm of life

Each of us has a homeland to love and remember. Homeland is everything that is closest, simplest, and most dear to us. It's the house, the embankment, the riverbank, the village communal house, the road to school in our childhood. For me, homeland is also a place where the soul anchors, a source of nostalgia for those far away. And every time I think of my homeland, I feel a surge of pride because the place where I was born is changing day by day in the process of building a new rural area.

Before the administrative reorganization of my commune into the new Hoang Chau commune on July 1, 2025, it was recognized as a model new rural commune at the end of 2024. Perhaps the reason for this pride is partly because, as a commune located at the end of a canal, facing many difficulties, it has "broken through" to become the first model new rural commune in the southeastern area of ​​the former Hoang Hoa district.

Perhaps the highlight of the model new rural area is the truly transformed appearance of the countryside. Smooth, paved roads connecting villages and communes; increasingly numerous multi-story houses with Thai and Japanese-style roofs in residential areas; spacious and well-equipped schools and health stations nestled among shady trees. Areas of acidic, saline rice paddies along the dike are gradually being replaced by high-value aquaculture farms. Many local households have invested billions of dong in high-tech shrimp farming with high productivity and efficiency, with many families becoming "shrimp farming millionaires." Households with large gardens have focused more on improving their orchards and planting fruit trees such as custard apples and guavas. Young people have jobs and stable incomes in industrial zones. Every evening, the women and mothers would chat and laugh heartily, their voices blending with the lively music at the community center, creating a warm and united atmosphere... All of this painted a picture of a rural village brimming with the sounds and colors of renewal - something that, more than 10 years ago, the people in my coastal hometown couldn't have imagined.

New rural areas always offer something new. Therefore, after being recognized as meeting the standards for new rural areas, many localities continue to focus on the "journey" of building advanced and model new rural areas. As a result, many villages like mine have become, and are becoming, livable rural areas.

In Kim Son village, Hoang Tien commune – a once impoverished, purely agricultural coastal area – has undergone a dramatic transformation. Those born, raised, and deeply connected to this land truly understand this. Mrs. Le Thi Nga, who has lived here since childhood, is now very pleased to see her hometown becoming increasingly modernized.

Ms. Nga remarked admiringly, "The country roads are wide and beautiful, with streetlights, and the internal field roads are paved. The fields are organized into production zones, and mechanization is applied to production, making farmers much more relaxed while increasing productivity and value. The cultural center is spacious, with a sports field, equipped with exercise equipment, and free Wi-Fi... all to serve the lives of the people."

The most commendable aspect is that to achieve the beautiful Kim Son village we see today, the villagers sacrificed personal interests, voluntarily donated land, contributed materials and labor... contributing to the paving of the main commune roads, hardening of hamlet and inter-hamlet roads, and installing streetlights for more convenient transportation. The new appearance of Kim Son village and the amenities of a model new rural village, a smart village, are easily understandable when the average income of the people here reaches 77.6 million VND/year, high compared to the average income of villages in the area.

"Model villages truly provide an opportunity to mobilize the strength of the entire community to jointly build up the countryside, helping people to enjoy increasingly better technical and social infrastructure," emphasized Mr. Le Van Tu, Head of Kim Son village.

Towards a civilized and comprehensively developed rural area.

Looking back over nearly 15 years, to have the vibrant new rural areas we see today, Thanh Hoa province has taken the right direction in focusing its leadership and guidance on the tasks of the national target program.

A livable countryside is a place that provides a peaceful, convenient living environment and opportunities for development for its residents.

In particular, during the period from 2021-2025, our province directed efforts to improve the effectiveness of rural development according to the plan, aiming to enhance the socio-economic life of rural areas in conjunction with the urbanization process in each locality. This will narrow the regional gap, provide rural people with a better living environment, gradually enable them to access and enjoy services similar to those in urban areas, promote sustainable socio-economic development, ensure national defense and security, and achieve sustainable poverty reduction, especially in ethnic minority areas, mountainous regions, coastal areas, and islands.

With strong determination and great effort, the New Rural Development Program has developed in depth, with many innovations, contributing to improving and enhancing the quality of life for the majority of rural people. The number of communes meeting the New Rural Development standards in the province is among the leading in the country. As of June 2025, the entire province had 15 district-level units and 374 communes meeting the New Rural Development standards (83.3%); of which, 4 districts and 125 communes met the advanced New Rural Development standards (33.4%); and 33 communes met the model New Rural Development standards (8.8%). There are 629 villages and hamlets that have met the model New Rural Development standards.

Notably, many exemplary models in the New Rural Development program have been implemented and replicated by the Fatherland Front at all levels and socio-political organizations. The movement of land donation and contribution to the New Rural Development program in localities has received the people's support, creating a positive effect and practical results for the development of rural infrastructure, especially in terms of environmental landscape and rural transportation. In the period 2021-2024, the entire province donated approximately 1,980,000 m2 of land (of which, residential land accounted for over 800,000 m2, and other land nearly 1,180,000 m2). Hundreds of houses worth over 60 billion VND were relocated or demolished; more than 2,400 fences, gates, yards, and auxiliary structures worth over 90 billion VND were demolished to implement rural development movements.

The total capital mobilized for the program in the 2021-2025 period (as of May 2025) reached over 29.9 trillion VND. The capital has been used rationally and effectively, infrastructure has been invested in comprehensively, and the appearance of rural areas is becoming increasingly modern, bright, green, clean, and beautiful, gradually meeting the production and living needs of rural residents.

And in particular, after implementing a two-tiered local government system aimed at administrative reform, streamlining the apparatus, improving management efficiency, and better serving the people, while also creating new development opportunities for localities, the New Rural Development Program will enter a new phase with higher-level goals. In this phase, New Rural Development will focus on civilized, comprehensive, and sustainable development linked to urbanization, transforming the appearance of rural areas, improving the quality of life, and ultimately aiming for the satisfaction of the people.

It is hoped that, with a new stature, new awareness, and a new administrative apparatus, in the not-too-distant future, Thanh Hoa province will have many more civilized, prosperous, and distinctive rural areas, truly becoming livable places, so that anyone who leaves will long to return and be proud of their birthplace.

Text and photos: Viet Huong

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tu-hao-nhung-mien-que-dang-song-258718.htm