(HBO) – Ethnic minority-inhabited areas in Mai Chau district of northern mountainous Hoa Binh province have flourished thanks to state-supported programmes and projects. Investment has been poured into upgrading infrastructure and stepping up production, thus reducing poverty, eradicating hunger and improving living conditions of the Mong ethnic minority group.

We visited Tra Day hamlet in Pa Co commune during the main harvest of Shan Tuyet green tea on all mountains and hills. Sung Y Sua, a tea farmer, said excitingly: "Thanks to varieties, fertilizers and techniques provided under the Poverty Reduction Project, tea farmers in the hamlet now have a better life. There are no more poor households here.”

The project, carried out since 2011, has connected with enterprises to provide saplings, technical assistance and establish a tea growing area covering dozens of hectares and a consumption chain in Pa Co commune. Hills have been planted with Shan Tuyet green teas and bitter teas, helping improve living conditions of local Mong ethnic minority people. The commune got rid of the list of poor communes in 2017.


A household in Khan Ha hamlet, Ba Kham commune (Mai Chau district) has escaped from poverty thanks to assistance from the Programme 135 in terms of production tools and new maize varieties.

Ba Kham commune has witnessed remarkable socio-economic changes since programmes and projects in support of ethnic minority people were initiated. Inter-hamlet roads among Khan Ho, Khan Thuong and Khan Ha hamlets have been expanded and upgraded to facilitate trading activities and transportation of agricultural materials and products.

The Programme 135 and the Poverty Reduction Project have supported local farmers’ production models, such as growing Japanese sweet potatoes and ginger and raising pigs and cows. Their living conditions have been improved with the annual per capita income reaching 9.6 million VND in 2016, and the rate of poor households falling below 50 percent.

Mai Chau district now has eight extremely disadvantaged communes, namely Cun Pheo, Na Meo, Tan Mai, Tan Dan, Hang Kia, Ba Khan, Noong Luong and Pu Bin. In 2015 – 2016, nearly 23.4 billion VND (over 1 million USD) was allocated from the Program 135 under Decision 551, dated April 4, 2014 of the Prime Minister for the communes. The programme focused its support on building infrastructure, with 40 transport, education, irrigation, communal works built. Priorities were also given to ethnic minority farmers’ production activities.

Many other policies have also benefited ethnic minority-inhabited areas, including those supplying residential and production land, and clean water. To date, all needy households have been supplied with clean water for the daily use, with total cost of 1.2 billion VND (52,800 USD). Up to 100 households have been provided with agricultural machines and tools under the job shifting assistance programme. A total of 18,263 people have been given saplings worth over 1.4 billion VND (61,600 USD).

As many as 530 households in the district have been provided with preferential loans, worth over 4.2 billion VND (184,800 USD) to raise cattle and buy agricultural machines. All the loans have been effectively used and none are over due. Up to 2,749 households have been enabled to get loans from the credit programme for poor and policy beneficiaries, with total outstanding debt of nearly 77.8 billion VND (3.4 million USD).  
 

                                                                          Bui Minh


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