Krong Jing, a particularly disadvantaged commune in M'Drak district, Dak Lak, has a natural area of 7,477 hectares, 12 villages with a population of about 12,345 people, including 15 ethnic groups living together (of which ethnic minorities account for nearly 70%). Here, the old story that people often tell their children and grandchildren is that life before 2005 was full of difficulties when life depended entirely on fields, farming and production conditions were backward, so crop and livestock productivity was unstable. It was not uncommon to have a shortage of food before the harvest season, or even not having money to buy pesticides and fertilizers right after the planting season. If there was still a shortage of food, where would we get money for living expenses? All these difficulties at that time had only one "old way" to solve, which was to sell unripe rice to traders at a cheap price. When it was time to harvest, traders went to the fields to get rice, and some families had no rice left to bring home. People are in need, and black credit has also found a way to infiltrate the village, making many people who are already in need even more difficult.
As a villager, more than anyone else, Mr. Y Hoan Ksor of M'Loc B village understands the extreme poverty of his fellow countrymen. But that difficulty cannot be shaken when people do not have accumulated capital and are accustomed to self-sufficient production. That is why in 2005, when he was elected as the village chief, and at the same time the Dak Lak Provincial Bank for Social Policies Branch implemented a credit support policy for people to eliminate the situation of selling unripe rice and black credit, he understood that the opportunity to help people had come. Promoting the prestige of the village chief with the people, he and the policy credit officers propagated to each house to help people understand the policy, supporting them in completing procedures to access loans. "At that time, the bank lent 3 million VND/household to eliminate the situation of selling unripe rice and black credit, the people were very excited," he said, adding that the policy credit source at that time was like rain in a drought, helping people solve many pressing needs in life. Rice plants no longer have to be sold young but wait until harvest season to help people have food and no longer worry about hunger.
In 2010, he became a member of the Communist Party and is now the Deputy Secretary of the village Party cell. Studying and imbuing the Party's viewpoints, policies, and ideals, and visiting localities and good production models, he realized that only by increasing production could he escape poverty. From then on, he went to every alley, knocked on every door to persuade people to borrow credit policy capital to raise cows and pigs, make manure to grow grass to raise cows, and plant acacia trees to develop the economy, without wasting land. The initial reservations about the fear of not having money to repay the loan, the fear of business failure gradually disappeared after the pioneering households successfully developed the economy. Households gradually looked at each other and learned from livestock and forestation models to develop the economy.
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| Staff of the M'Drak District Social Policy Bank and socio-political organizations always accompany people to borrow capital and develop the economy. |
Policy credit capital is also helping women in the village to rise up and take control of their own lives. Ms. H'Pak Nie, Head of the Women's Association of M'Loc B village, said, "Before the Social Policy Bank, women encountered many problems with capital for family development, and had less social contact than their men, so they encountered many difficulties and were very self-conscious. And when they are self-conscious, they do not want to go out into society to interact, leaving it to their husbands to do it, and from there they have even less knowledge. Lack of knowledge leads to many problems and in the end, women are very self-conscious," she said. Therefore, in her role as Head of the Women's Association, she has devoted all her heart to promoting and supporting women to access capital that brings economic efficiency to their families. The association also helps women have social interaction and communication sessions to help women have more confidence in themselves.
Mr. Ygoanh MLo, head of the M'Suot loan group, Krong Jing commune, said that the story of borrowing capital for economic development is not a one-day or two-day affair but requires the continuous support of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and the entire political and social system, especially in difficult places like Krong Jing. Because although Dak Lak is the capital of coffee, that natural advantage is not reserved for Krong Jing. Previously, people in the commune used to grow coffee trees. Looking at the coffee trees growing tall and flowering in November and December, they thought that a bumper crop was not far away, but the flowers had not yet set fruit before they rotted because this is an area that is flooded at the peak of the rainy season. People could only rely on rice crops and poverty. As one of the first 7 households in the village to pioneer borrowing capital in the anti-unripe rice crop credit program, he bought fertilizer for agricultural production. Productivity increased, hunger and black credit no longer followed. He and many households switched to borrowing from banks to raise cows for breeding and grow cassava. Then when the land was limited and it was discovered that growing cassava would make the land infertile after only 3-4 years, with low economic value, the government and the People's Credit Fund helped people develop raising cows in barns and switch to growing acacia. "Calculating that one hectare can be sold for 100 million VND, it costs about 20 million VND for seeds and fertilizer, so I get 80 million VND," said Mr. Ygoanh MLo. With 5 hectares of acacia harvested on top of each other, every year, his family has a stable income of 100 million VND, not to mention other sources of income. This is also the foundation for his family to escape poverty and has also saved some money to prepare to build a new house. Successful households like him are also a source of motivation for people in the village to learn from each other to do business. Also from his production experience, when he was assigned to be the leader of one of the two credit groups in the village, he propagated and inspired the people in the village, helping them understand the meaning and opportunities from policy credit capital and the attention of the Party and the State to the people, thereby boldly borrowing capital for economic development. Currently, all 95 members who borrowed capital grow acacia combined with raising cows. Previously, they were all poor households, but now the number has decreased to only 65 households.
Mr. Y Loc Nie, District Party Committee member, Party Committee Secretary, Chairman of the People's Council of Krong Jin commune, M'Drak district, said that the commune is particularly difficult with a large area and a large population. Currently, the poverty rate is very high, which is a great concern for the local Party Committee and government. "We realize that to reduce the rate of poor and near-poor households, the core is the Party cell and the responsibility of each Party member. With the motto "Party cells work hard, Party members help closely", in the past time, we have also assigned Party members, especially Party Committee members, to be in charge of each village and hamlet to help the grassroots. Especially, promoting the pioneering role of Party members. In the locality, there are Party members who have not been assigned tasks, but they still help the poor in many ways within their capacity and conditions. Besides, we have also directed the entire political system, the synchronous participation of all levels and sectors in implementing political tasks, with the participation of the armed forces, as well as the Military Committee accompanying the people to jointly solve social security tasks, so that local political tasks can be carried out," he said.
Accumulating those efforts has lit the fire of credit to solve poverty, creating strong changes in this land. By the end of 2023, there were no more hungry households in Krong Jin commune, the poverty rate was 28%, and the near-poor rate was 11.6%. Meanwhile, this rate in 2021 was 42.67% and 19%. Although the poverty rate is still high, the way out of poverty has opened up when there are currently 1,763 borrowers borrowing capital from the Social Policy Bank with a total outstanding balance of credit programs up to May 30, 2024 of 90,115 million VND, with no overdue debt or bad debt.
Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/co-dang-cuoc-doi-am-no-hanh-phuc-bai-1-158882.html
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