Promoting the value of land in poverty reduction

To clarify the basic contents of the local poverty reduction program, we had a discussion with Mr. Nguyen Duy Hoa, Secretary of Bac Ha district, Lao Cai about this issue.

PV: Could you tell us what Bac Ha has done in recent times to develop the economy and sustainably reduce poverty by promoting the value of land?

Mr. Nguyen Duy Hoa: Land is a valuable resource, the foundation for existence, participation in social activities, economic life. In order to put land into effective, reasonable use and in accordance with the requirements of development in accordance with the general orientation of the district, first of all, the People's Committee of Bac Ha district focuses on land use planning. In the past time, Bac Ha district has focused well on the work of making land use planning until 2030, clearly defining the structure of land areas to be used in the planning period, creating a premise for Bac Ha to carry out the socio-economic development process.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Hoa, Secretary of Bac Ha District Party Committee, Lao Cai.

Determining the structure of land that needs to be converted to another purpose during that period also creates land revenue for the local budget from land allocation and land lease. At the same time, through the conversion of land use purposes in the planning scheme, the costs of compensation, support and resettlement for those whose land is recovered by the State for use in the national interest and public interest in the district have been determined.

Planning new urban areas, resettlement areas, and commune cluster centers to solve the land fund according to the increasing population demand for urban and rural areas to ensure stable development of people's lives; The planning process to reserve enough land to solidly build public welfare works such as schools, medical stations, agency headquarters, markets, etc. will contribute to raising people's knowledge and improving the cultural and spiritual life of the people.

Based on the Land Use Plan of Bac Ha district to 2030, the District People's Committee has been developing detailed construction planning areas such as: General urban planning of 1500ha, planning of Ring Road II, planning of Ta Ho Gas Station, planning of Na Quang 123, planning of the South of Na Co Lake, planning of Bac Ha Hospital... In addition, Bac Ha district is also developing detailed planning of commune cluster centers to meet the increasing demand for residential land of the people, as well as effectively exploiting land funds, building commune center areas with synchronous technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, and going deep into implementing common projects.

Bac Ha district focuses on organizing the exploitation and effective use of land resources according to land use planning and construction plans to ensure land use is consistent with the direction of socio-economic development and national defense and security tasks.

PV: Can you elaborate on promoting land value in conjunction with poverty reduction ?

Mr. Nguyen Duy Hoa: Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of land management and use, maximizing the value of land resources, and creating momentum for socio-economic development has always been the goal that Bac Ha district (Lao Cai) has set in recent years. This is also the driving force to boost production, create jobs, stable income, and help people escape poverty most sustainably, especially ethnic minorities in this mountainous district.

In particular, creating large-scale agricultural commodity production areas, forming more specialized concentrated production areas, linked with processing industry, distribution and consumption networks and application of advanced science and technology, digital transformation, mechanization, automation... (For example: Ta Van plum tree - Ta Van Chu; Tam Hoa plum - Na Hoi, Ta Chai, Town; Medicinal herbs area - Ta Van Chu, Lung Phinh....).

Bac Ha has promoted the value of land in planning to develop the local socio-economy, striving to bring Bac Ha out of the poor districts of Lao Cai and the whole country by 2025.

In addition to planning to create land funds for socio-economic development, changing the mindset from land management and use, which are the fields and forests managed by households to bring the highest efficiency is what the communes as well as Bac Ha district are aiming for. Through propaganda and mobilization, awareness, customs, habits and practices have been gradually changed, converting cultivation from low-value crops and livestock to high-value crops and livestock, creating motivation for poor and near-poor households to have the will to rise up and escape poverty on their own gardens and hills.

Therefore, Bac Ha district has implemented projects such as growing pears, growing medicinal herbs... to increase productivity and income for people living on land. For example, the pear growing model of Mr. Trang Seo Khua's family, Hoang Ha village, Hoang Thu Pho commune, Bac Ha district. Mr. Khua's family has 400 pear trees, in recent years, 400 pear trees have generated an income of 100 million VND per year. Mr. Khua's family has not only escaped poverty but also has savings.

Or the model of growing Platycodon grandiflorum medicinal herbs of Ms. Trang Thi Ngoc Linh's family in La Di Thang village, Ta Van Chu commune, Bac Ha district. Ms. Linh's family has converted the entire corn growing area of nearly 1 hectare to growing Platycodon grandiflorum. Her family also has a Ta Van plum garden with hundreds of trees. From these two main crops, her family has a stable annual income. These are just a few of the thousands of households in Bac Ha who have changed their mindset to maximize the value of land in poverty reduction work.

PV: What difficulties and challenges has Bac Ha district encountered in poverty reduction and poverty reduction related to land?

With a terrain of mainly high hills and mountains, interspersed with rivers and streams, the economy has not yet developed. That is why for many years, the story of poverty reduction has always been a concern of the Party Committee and local government of Bac Ha district when the problem of poverty alleviation is still not really sustainable.

During the implementation of the project, the project aims to expand Bac Ha town, create land funds along the route, meet the needs of urban infrastructure development and people's travel. Ensuring smooth traffic, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, gradually improving economic life, improving infrastructure but still facing difficulties such as: due to poor understanding, some people still have the view that land is owned by individual land users, when implementing the liberation, people still have demands such as: agreeing on compensation prices, not agreeing to land recovery...

Bac Ha district has introduced a policy of land accumulation and development of high-value trees to help people escape poverty.

People's land use process has not complied with the 2013 Land Law: Arbitrarily constructing works on agricultural land without permission from competent state agencies, arbitrarily dividing land plots to give to children or transferring land that does not meet the conditions for division, arbitrarily changing the purpose of land use... Leading to many difficulties when implementing site clearance and recovery.

The consolidation of land plots to have land funds for high-quality agricultural development is still not really good, so Bac Ha still does not have many high-tech fields to help reduce poverty sustainably.

PV: In the coming time, what plans does Bac Ha have to make poverty reduction practical and sustainable, especially poverty reduction through promoting land value, sir?

In the coming time, to reduce poverty associated with promoting the value of land into practice, Bac Ha district will integrate support resources from the Central Government, Lao Cai province, and Bac Ha district to create maximum favorable conditions for poor households, near-poor households, and policy families to easily access preferential loans to develop the economy on the agricultural land areas that families currently have.

Bac Ha people have gradually changed their mindset in farming, animal husbandry... to increase income effectively and sustainably.

Bac Ha district aims to reduce the number of poor households by 1,053 by the end of 2023, equivalent to a poverty reduction rate of 8.97%; at the same time, the poverty rate in rural areas will be reduced to 49%. "In the period of 2021 - 2025, Bac Ha district will have 3 major programs of the Central Government to continue supporting socio-economic development. We are reviewing all capital sources to implement support with the State support plan and the People also have a response".

Promoting poverty reduction work, the material and spiritual life of Bac Ha people is constantly improved, which is the basis for Bac Ha to strive to escape the list of poor districts in the country by 2025.

Through the National Target Programs for Sustainable Poverty Reduction, the District People's Committee has directed specialized agencies to coordinate with the People's Committees of communes and towns to review and develop support plans for poor households and ethnic minorities in disadvantaged areas (support for residential land, housing, and means of production) in accordance with customs, practices, cultural identity and actual conditions of each region, and at the same time have policies to create conditions for ethnic minorities directly engaged in agricultural production to have land for production.

In addition to helping people increase their income effectively and sustainably, we will bring the Resolution into life to change their thinking, helping ethnic minorities understand the methods, ways of working, and cultivating each family's land area, thereby rising up to escape poverty, get rich on their homeland, contributing to the development of the mountainous district of Bac Ha.

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