The One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme has helped encourage active labour among farmers, increasing production and creating high-quality products. In response to the programme, farmers in Phu Cuong commune, Tan Lac district, are working on their local sweet potato branding and forming a concentrated production area for better income and economic development.
Sang Tho, from Phu Cuong’s Vo hamlet,
harvests sweet potato.
Capitalising on its available idle and sandy
soil, suitable for sweet potato cultivation, Phu Cuong has been making efforts
to form a concentrated production area for the plant.
Vo hamlet is home to 140 households with over
700 residents, and nearly all of them have areas for sweet potato farming.
Notably, Sang Tho's household is currently growing over 3,000m2 of the plant.
Tho said this year, sweet potato has thrived as there are fewer pest and
disease issues. Phu Cuong sweet potato is an indigenous variety with a
distinctive sweet and aromatic flavour. Its cultivation is relatively simple;
with proper care, a yield of about 3 - 5 tonnes per hectare can be achieved.
Bui Van Thanh's household, meanwhile, has a
relatively large plantation area of over 4,000m2. Their sweet potato is
purchased by traders from various locations. Thanh said the price of sweet
potato is relatively stable compared to other farm produce. However, the
current capital is still limited, and there is no capacity for investment in
the diversification of production and processing. Therefore, only raw products
are available, resulting in lower selling prices.
"With a good harvest, the sweet potato garden
has generated over 90 million VND (3,722 USD) for my family since the beginning
of this year,” Thanh said.
The sweet potato of Phu Cuong have been
registered for the OCOP programme, with the commune aiming at quality improvement,
OCOP branding, favourable conditions for product consumption, and supply chain
formation serving better productivity and income. To this end, it is actively
forming cooperatives and cooperative groups for sweet potato cultivation,
creating a brand for the root, and supporting participating households in
production, disease prevention, and e-commercial application.
Bui Duc Phuong, Chairman of the People's
Committee of Phu Cuong Commune, said sweet potato is an important agricultural
product of the locality, attracting many traders from in and outside the
province. In the coming time, Phu Cuong will focus on regional planning for
standardised production to process sweet potato into a high-quality OCOP
product, supplying the domestic market and opening up possibilities for
export.
In the first half of 2024, Hoa Binh province granted new business registrations for 210 enterprises with a total registered capital of more than 4.75 trillion VND (187.5 million USD), an increase of 12% year on year, the provincial Department of Planning and Investment has reported.
The working class in Vietnam in general and Hoa Binh province in particular, has made significant strides in terms of quality and making practical contributions to the country's industrialisation and modernisation process. Establishing a well-organised working class that has professional skills, firm political mettle, capable of leading the innovation process, and actively integrating into global trends of globalisation, is the responsibility of the entire Party and political system. However, there are numerous challenges that hinder the robust development of the working class.
Accessing preferential loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP), many households in Tan Lac district have escaped poverty and many students progressed on their quest for knowledge.
The companionship of the preferential loans from the Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has helped many households in Tan Lac district escape poverty sustainably. Along with that, the policy capital has accompanied with many students in their journey to seek knowledge until they achieve the "sweet fruits”.
In the 2023-2024 winter-spring crop, despite unfavourable weather conditions and negative impacts of market, Hoa Binh has basically achieved targets and even exceeded the yearly plan due to the fact that production direction and preparation of production material was carried out early.
Implementing the criteria on the form of production organization in the program for building New Rural Areas, the Party committees and the provincial authorities at all levels have strengthened the direction and implementation of land consolidation and land exchange.
