Extraordinary willpower of female cooperative director helps many people escape poverty

TPO - In the land of Muong, there is a woman who has turned the pain of illness into strength to build a new life for the community. That is Ms. Nguyen Thi Bay (born in 1969) - Director of Luong Phu Agricultural Service Cooperative (HTX), Muong Bi commune, Phu Tho province. Not only did she overcome a serious illness, she also became a solid support for hundreds of farmers, helping them have jobs and stable income.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bay purchases and consumes products for people.

Passion for success

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bay is a Kinh ethnic, but she married into the Muong land and is passionate about weaving and embroidery. "When I married into the Muong land, I saw that women here had no jobs and life was extremely difficult. Wanting to create jobs that any woman could do, I joined a rattan and bamboo weaving training class organized by the Veterans Association of Tan Lac district ( Hoa Binh province). Thanks to my natural talent, I quickly became an outstanding skilled person and was trusted to teach vocational classes in the area," Ms. Bay shared.

Her love for the profession grew day by day, and Mrs. Bay was determined to travel to many places to learn and hone her skills to teach others. In 1998-1999, she returned to Hanoi to learn handicrafts. After only 3 months, she had mastered the steps and mastered how to make all handicraft products. Returning to her hometown, she gathered women to teach them the craft so that they could process the products, creating more income right in her hometown, without having to go far away to make a living.

Mrs. Bay gives advice and guides people to improve their products.

Realizing that doing processing forever would not be able to develop the profession, in 2013, Ms. Bay established Luong Phu Agricultural Service Cooperative with the initial participation of 13 households. "In the early days, the Cooperative faced many difficulties, lack of capital, lack of market, goods were often of poor quality and had to compensate for losses. I even sold my motorbike, the most valuable asset in the house, to cover travel expenses and find outlets for the products," Ms. Bay said.

Despite the hardship, she never became discouraged. “Seeing my sisters have jobs and stable incomes, all my fatigue disappeared,” Ms. Bay shared. It was this perseverance that helped the cooperative gradually assert its position. In particular, in 2020, thanks to connecting with a business in Hanoi, the cooperative switched to producing products from cogon grass, opening up a new, more sustainable direction, increasing income for farmers.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Bay teaches her profession to women.

Courage to overcome illness

When her career was gradually stabilizing, an incident occurred. Her husband of many years passed away due to a serious illness. Before she could overcome her grief, she received the news that she had breast cancer. After surgery and many rounds of radiation therapy, her body was exhausted and she almost collapsed.

However, instead of giving up, she told herself to live, to stand firm, because there were hundreds of women waiting behind her. During the most painful days, she still clung to her knitting job, still connecting with partners to maintain jobs for cooperative members. Her passion for the job and sense of responsibility became the spiritual "medicine" that helped her overcome her illness. After 4 years of perseverance, she gradually recovered, regained her health and continued her journey of dedication.

Weaving is a very simple job that has created many jobs for people.

Not stopping at the weaving profession, during a visit to relatives in Ninh Thuan, Mrs. Bay realized that aloe vera has great economic potential. Despite the dissuasion of many people, at the end of 2022, Luong Phu Cooperative joined hands with businesses to bring aloe vera to grow in Hoa Binh.

Up to now, the Cooperative has deployed on an area of ​​over 25 hectares with nearly 100 participating households, concentrated mainly in Tan Lac and Kim Boi districts. Aloe vera is easy to grow, has few pests and diseases, and can be harvested 6-8 times per year. With a yield of 50-60 tons/hectare per crop and a stable purchase price of 2,000 VND/kg, farmers can earn hundreds of millions of VND per year. In addition, the Cooperative has also developed an additional 20 hectares of sweet potatoes, expanding the direction of diverse and sustainable production.

Thanks to its continuous efforts, Luong Phu Agricultural Service Cooperative currently creates jobs and stable income for hundreds of ethnic minority households. Each month, people can earn from 5 to 6 million VND, contributing to poverty reduction and improving living standards. The cooperative's revenue reaches over 2 billion VND per year.

Ms. Quach Thi Giang Thanh, Muong Bi commune, said that many women in the commune were taught by Ms. Bay how to weave and make handicrafts, and have jobs to earn income. “Not only were we trained in the profession, we also had stable jobs, improved family life, and escaped from hardship and poverty. In particular, thanks to the income, we have the conditions to take care of our children's education better,” Ms. Thanh shared.

Products of Luong Phu Agricultural Service Cooperative.

Mr. Dinh Van Thanh - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Muong Bi commune commented: "Ms. Nguyen Thi Bay is a dynamic and creative person who creates jobs for many women of different ages. In particular, many older women can still weave and earn a monthly income. Despite many difficulties, she has overcome them all to make Luong Phu Agricultural Service Cooperative operate stably, creating jobs and sustainable income for many farmers. Not only that, she also helps hundreds of people in the commune have jobs to improve their lives, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty."

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nghi-luc-phi-thuong-cua-nu-giam-doc-hop-tac-xa-giup-nhieu-nguoi-dan-thoat-ngheo-post1778880.tpo