“Without people like that, it will be difficult to build new countryside.”

Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department Nguyen Thi Ha Tan, former Secretary of Vu Quang District Party Committee, made such an assessment when talking about the exemplary role of Mr. Nguyen Xuan The - Party Committee Secretary, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee and the team of officials at all levels in Duc Linh commune, a famous example of new rural construction in Ha Tinh and across the country.

In 2010, Mr. Nguyen Xuan The took office as Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, which was also the time when the locality began implementing the National Target Program on New Rural Development. Duc Linh is a mountainous commune with a large land area and the largest population in the district; starting from a low base, poor households account for 45%. The local traffic system is nearly 130 km long, but only 14 km is concreted. The commune has 7 schools divided into 2 regions and 15 villages. In fact, the commune did not meet any of the 19 New Rural Development criteria at that time. That is why Vu Quang did not include Duc Linh in the list of the first communes to build New Rural Development in the district.

As Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Xuan The had many concerns. He discussed with the Party Committee Secretary of Vo Hai Ninh Commune and the comrades in the Standing Committee of the Party Committee that: "If we are determined and work in a fundamental and systematic way, we will definitely achieve the standards of a new-style rural commune. As for the government, I promise to take responsibility before the Party Committee and the People, by all means, mobilizing all resources, to bring our commune to the new-style rural standard."

After discussing and carefully analyzing the factors, the Duc Linh Commune Party Committee determined to report to the district so that the locality could be among the first communes to build a new rural area in the district.

Launching ceremony of the movement to build model new rural residential areas and model gardens of Duc Linh commune (Vu Quang) in 2017.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan The confided: From the reality of mountainous areas, many villages, large areas, and people spread along hills and streams. During the rainy season, most of them are heavily flooded, traffic is cut off, and roads become muddy. When it comes to harvest, due to inconvenient transportation, agricultural products cannot be sold, and people's lives become even more difficult. Therefore, to build a new rural area, we must first focus on two main breakthroughs: building infrastructure for transportation - irrigation and electricity; along with that, issuing mechanisms and policies to boost production and improve people's lives.

Since then, the movement of traffic following the new rural criteria has been taking place vigorously and effectively, unprecedentedly in every family and village. The Steering Committee for New Rural Construction at all levels, the Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People's Committee personally followed the most difficult routes every day to direct and operate, and the people enthusiastically participated. Hundreds of households affected by their gardens and land happily donated over 77,600 square meters ^of land, cut down thousands of perennial trees and fruit trees to build roads, electricity, and schools... Typically, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lieu's household donated 1 hectare, and 3 other households donated 1.5 hectares of garden land. Three brothers: Phan Dung, Phan Manh, Phan Toan (Thanh Son hamlet) discussed borrowing money from the bank to buy materials to build a 300m long concrete road connecting the inter-family area with the hamlet's main road. Mr. Nguyen Nam Chuong (Cao Phong hamlet) sold a calf to build the road. Thanh Binh hamlet people discussed contributing money to build Nha Ba bridge, which cost nearly 150 million VND; and donated 200 million VND at once to build the campus of the village cultural house...

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and provincial leaders visited the "Bright - green - clean - beautiful - safe - civilized" residential cluster model in Cua Linh village (Duc Linh commune, Vu Quang). Photo: Van Chung

Thanks to that, on average, each year, Duc Linh builds 5 - 7 km of hard roads according to the new rural road standards from the support and contributions of the people plus savings from the budget. In the first year, Duc Linh hardened 40 km of roads (including programs and projects). Up to now, the entire 130 km of roads of the commune have been hardened, of which 95% are concreted and asphalted; 75 km of electric lines light up the countryside covering the hamlets with socialized resources, contributing to maintaining security and order, making the rural appearance more prosperous.

To encourage households to promote production development, in addition to the district's policies, the commune has issued policies to support households growing fruit trees on a scale of 50 - 250 trees, each tree is 20,000 VND; support households raising female deer 2 million VND/head, male deer 3 million VND/head, maximum scale of 5 deer/household; support for building model gardens 8 million VND/garden; support for raw materials (cement, sand and gravel) for villages to build rural roads, internal irrigation; support for building "Bright - green - clean - beautiful, safe - civilized" residential clusters with 10 million VND/household... Thanks to the synchronous implementation of propaganda with setting examples and good application of policy mechanisms, people enthusiastically participated in contributing labor and money, so the progress of building new rural areas was accelerated. In 2015, Duc Linh was one of the top 3 communes of Vu Quang to meet new rural standards. In 2020, the locality achieved advanced NTM commune status and is determined to achieve model NTM commune status by the end of 2023.

Leaders of Vu Quang province and district visited the model garden of Mr. Nguyen Xuan The, Secretary - Chairman of Duc Linh Commune People's Committee.

From zero, just 10 years later, Duc Linh has made a spectacular breakthrough. Up to now, 100% of the commune's villages have achieved the model new-style rural residential area. The infrastructure is increasingly complete; the average income per capita in 2023 will reach 56.27 million VND/person/year (in 2020 it was 38.11%); the poverty rate will decrease to 3.05% (in 2020 it was 7.39%). The whole commune has built 405 standard model gardens (in 2020 there were only 123 gardens), 11 residential clusters, 23 "Bright - green - clean - beautiful, safe - civilized" roads. The "Bright - green - clean - beautiful, safe - civilized" residential cluster of the commune is the first initiative in the country, directed by the district and province to be replicated in localities. The first eco-cluster in Cua Linh village was built by 5 households in 2021, with an average of 100-130 delegations visiting each year (in 2020 alone, there were 170 domestic delegations coming to learn). Duc Linh was honored to welcome Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and provincial leaders to visit with recognition and appreciation of the eco-clusters and said that they would direct the replication of this model.

People of Duc Linh commune build new rural areas. Photo: Van Chung

Thanks to knowing how to exploit resources, create motivation from the masses, businesses and children far from home; grasp choices, access policy resources..., from 2016 to now, Duc Linh has mobilized more than 187.6 billion VND to build new rural areas (equal to 155% compared to the period 2010 - 2015). Of which, the people contributed more than 28.6 billion VND (including cash, working days, land donation, tree donation, raw materials...); the combined capital from programs and projects is 159 billion VND.

From model residential areas, many residential clusters, roads, beautiful landscapes, and spacious village cultural houses have been created; household economy has developed, especially household garden economy has been clearly improved, many gardens have brought high income efficiency from 300 million VND/year or more; there are 367 members of the association with economic models bringing income of 100 million VND/year. Building a new rural area has created a change in farmers' thinking, from traditional self-sufficient production to commodity-oriented production, connecting with the market, effectively promoting the potential of garden land and taking advantage of idle labor.

When asked about the reasons for Duc Linh's achievements in building new rural areas, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha Tan - Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department, former Secretary of Vu Quang District Party Committee said that first of all, it is thanks to 100% of the cadres here always maintaining their exemplary role. From Party Secretary - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Nguyen Xuan The to comrades in the Party Committee, government, cadres of hamlets, villages, unions... all are united, love each other, innovate, create, and take the lead in all issues, no matter how new or difficult. For example, in the construction of the "Bright - Green - Clean - Beautiful" residential cluster (now an ecological residential cluster), Comrade The was the first person to discuss with several households around his house such as Mr. Ly (former Chairman of the Commune People's Committee), Mr. Ha (Head of Inter-family Group 1 - Cua Linh)... to contribute money and effort to do it. At first, some households were hesitant to do it, but seeing the determination and enthusiasm of the cadres, they followed suit. The good news spread far and wide. District and provincial leaders came to visit and saw that the residential cluster was so beautiful and had many advantages, so they supported more funding, thanks to which Duc Linh was able to open other clusters. When visiting, sitting and chatting, drinking green tea, and eating boiled cassava with the people in the Cua Linh residential cluster, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan was delighted and shared: "This model is so wonderful, uniting and bonding the people's feelings with each other, no longer closed off from the public, each family knows its own house. This is the good tradition of our Vietnamese countryside for thousands of years.

Farmers in Duc Linh commune are excited to harvest oranges. Photo: Van Chung

People of Duc Linh commune exploit and improve economic efficiency from beekeeping. Photo: Van Chung

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee added: In the early days of building the new rural area, the whole commune did not have any livestock facilities with enough scale and size according to the criteria. The commune leaders discussed contributing capital and land to build a concentrated pig farm in association with the Ha Tinh Minerals and Trading Corporation. From a 300-pig pig farm with quite modern investment by the commune leaders, after 2 years, the people responded and followed, so up to now, dozens of pig farming models and cooperatives have appeared; small households raise from 20 - 30 pigs, large households from 150 - 200 pigs. Thanks to the stable input and output linkage, the households have a good income, and many localities in and outside the district come to visit and learn from their experiences.

According to Party Secretary - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Nguyen Xuan The, for Duc Linh, any new policy or difficult task, the leaders always meet to discuss and assign the cadres to take the lead, then mobilize everyone to follow. Thanks to that, 95% of the families of cadres from the commune to the village have standard model gardens; in places where there are cadres in charge, the roads there must be a model of "Bright - green - clean - beautiful".

Party Secretary - Chairman of Duc Linh Commune People's Committee Nguyen Xuan The (front row, 3rd from left) received the honor of a typical commune at the program "Ho Chi Minh - Journey of Aspiration 2023".

In 2015, Duc Linh commune was awarded the Third Class Independence Medal by the President. Over the past 10 years, Duc Linh has also achieved many remarkable achievements: The commune Party Committee has successfully completed its tasks for 5 consecutive years (from 2018 - 2022); the Central Government awarded a certificate of merit for an excellent unit in 5 years of "Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle". Duc Linh is the only unit in Ha Tinh honored at the program "Ho Chi Minh - Journey of Aspiration 2023" - honoring typical examples in studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle.

As affirmed by former Secretary of Vu Quang District Party Committee Nguyen Thi Ha Tan: "President Ho Chi Minh once taught: Cadres are the root of all work. Success or failure depends on good or bad cadres". Without such a team of cadres in charge, the cause of building new rural areas will hardly be as successful as expected".

Content: Khac Hien

Photo: Khac Hien - Van Chung

Design: Huy Tung

1:04:12:2023:08:20

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nong-nghiep/khong-co-nhung-nguoi-nhu-the-se-kho-xay-dung-duoc-nong-thon-moi/258163.htm