Every time I travel on Highway 9 through the Lang Vay base relic, Tan Long commune, Huong Hoa district, I remember the liberating premonition in the poem of poet Ngo Kha from more than half a century ago: "We will see and definitely see/A golden city on Lao Bao hill/A charming town through Lang Vay".
Lang Vay base relic - Photo: TH
Standing on Lang Vay hill today, where the tank number 268 of the Armored Corps first appeared on the battlefield of Huong Hoa district, "strange and terrifying" as the American - puppet soldiers said in 1968, looking around, we can see the shape of the "golden city" Lao Bao developing dynamically at the gateway to the Vietnam - Laos border and the charming Khe Sanh town in the center of the district. Interestingly, from the perspective of Lang Vay towards Tan Long intersection, where people and vehicles are always bustling like a festival, we can see all the miraculous changes on the dreamy trans-Asian road and the fertile land in the South of Huong Hoa district. It seems that all roads converge here.
The day we sat down to chat with the Chairman of Tan Long Commune People's Committee, Vo Van Cuong, we were really surprised by the details that Huong Hoa district has Lao Bao Trade Center and the district central market in Khe Sanh town, but the trade of goods and the purchasing power of the people are not as strong as in the Tan Long commune market area.
Tan Long commune is the banana "capital" of Huong Hoa district. Every day, 5-7 large trucks of traders come here to buy bananas for export to China with a total output of more than 100 tons of fresh bananas per day, selling price from 5,000 - 6,000 VND/kg of bananas, revenue from banana trees each day is more than half a billion VND.
Each year, banana trees bring farmers in Huong Hoa district nearly 200 billion VND. Since the Tan Long Commune Party Committee issued a resolution on changing the crop structure and bringing honey-mold banana trees from home gardens to hill gardens for commercial production in 1993, the banana growing area has grown strongly, becoming a typical product with local advantages.
In Huong Hoa district, there are currently more than 3,000 hectares of bananas planted and about 2,000 hectares of bananas are grown by people in communes of Huong Hoa district in cooperation with people from neighboring Laos to grow, purchase and consume products, of which, people in Tan Long commune grow about a quarter of the area. Banana trucks to the market bring televisions, refrigerators, smartphones... to the villages, changing the material and spiritual life of people in the highland villages.
But the Lia area in the south of Huong Hoa district does not only have banana trees that "make money". Cassava trees in the southern communes of Huong Hoa district follow Lia road (Provincial Road 568) to sell to Huong Hoa Cassava Starch Factory and then bring money to spend at the Tan Long market intersection. Tan Long intersection, where National Highway 9 and Provincial Road 568 intersect, has become the center of trade and commerce of the whole region.
The vast road of separation - Photo: TH
People consider Huong Hoa as the land of “golden fruit”. In which, the communes south of National Highway 9 and Lia area are endowed by nature with favorable soil and climate for fruit trees to grow well. But to talk about the planning and methodical investment for the development of this land, we must mention the birth of Huong Hoa Cassava Starch Factory, a member unit of Quang Tri Trading Corporation Joint Stock Company.
In 2004, along with the establishment of Huong Hoa Cassava Starch Factory, the introduction of cassava into large-scale cultivation in the communes of Lia region changed the economy, politics, and society of the people in the Western region of Quang Tri province, the majority of whom are ethnic minorities Van Kieu and Pa Ko.
Director of Huong Hoa Cassava Starch Factory Le Ngoc Sang said that currently, cassava is a crop that helps reduce poverty and enrich more than 5,000 households in the Lia area with a planting area of about 4,500 hectares, with a yield of 17 - 20 tons of fresh cassava roots/ha. Every year, the factory purchases about 80,000 - 110,000 tons of fresh cassava roots in the Lia area, with a purchase turnover of VND 200 - 290 billion.
In the 2023-2024 crop year, the cassava output in Lia region is about 80,000 tons, the purchase price depends on the starch content, currently on average about 2.85 million VND/ton. To increase the value per unit area of cassava cultivation, in 2023, the factory will coordinate with the Department of Agriculture of Huong Hoa district to implement 14 demonstration models on intensive fertilization and intercropping with green beans. The models are implemented in communes in Lia region, 2 models per commune, currently the models are in the final stage, with good results.
Banana market in Tan Long commune, Huong Hoa district - Photo: TH
In the past, people's lives were still difficult, the land was barren, and weeds grew everywhere because there was basically no processing factory to purchase agricultural products for farmers. Understanding the hardships of local people, Huong Hoa Cassava Starch Factory together with the local government organized propaganda campaigns, invited experts to organize training for cassava farmers, making people clearly see the benefits of growing cassava.
In addition, the factory cooperates with scientists to research solutions to increase output, quality and reduce costs by applying high-tech farming techniques. Implementing the linkage of 4 parties (State, business, scientists, farmers), the factory has committed to purchasing all products made for people at profitable prices through contracts, at the same time providing fertilizers, seedlings, training, and guidance on planting techniques for people, gradually building a relationship of coexistence and development between Huong Hoa Cassava Starch Factory and people in Lia area.
Now, entering the villages of the Lia region (including Thuan, Thanh, Xy, Lia, A Doi, Ba Tang) through the intersection of Tan Long commune, it is easy to see the strong changes in the way of thinking, the way of working to develop the economy, and build a new life of the people. We visited the family of Pa Nho (Ho Van Pong), in Ban 10, Thanh commune, during the cassava harvest season. Pa Nho was preparing to drive a tractor to work the land to plant cassava for the people.
This year, Pa Nho's family sold 13 carts of cassava, yielding over 100 tons, earning 300 million VND. Along with growing cassava, Pa Nho bought a tractor worth over 400 million VND to provide plowing services for farmers in the commune, earning 5 million VND per day. Thanks to growing cassava, in 2010, Pa Nho was able to build a two-story stilt house worth nearly 600 million VND, the most beautiful in the commune.
In addition, with the money saved, Pa Nho invested more than 1 billion VND to cooperate with people from Laos to grow 25 hectares of bananas. Before COVID-19, Pa Nho earned nearly 4 million VND from selling bananas every day. Since the pandemic broke out, due to the difficulty of traveling between the two sides of the border, the banana area invested in Laos had to be put on hold.
Pa Nho family got rich from cassava - Photo: TH
Not far from Pa Nho's house, Ms. Ho Thi Huong's family in Thanh 1 village grows 3 hectares of cassava. Thanks to investment in care and good fertilization, her family harvests about 70 tons of cassava each year, and in some years, more than 100 tons of cassava. In addition to growing cassava, Ms. Huong also invests in cooperation with people from Laos to grow 1.5 hectares of bananas and buys a large truck to provide services. The family's total income each year is about 200 million VND.
In the mountainous ethnic minority villages of Huong Hoa district, Ms. Huong's family was the first to invest in building a spacious, solid 2-storey house with modern amenities designed like houses of lowland people. Not only that, Ms. Huong is always at the forefront of eliminating bad customs, improving the position of women in investment decisions to develop production, business, and build happy, prosperous families.
Lia area of Huong Hoa district currently has 97 households participating in the club earning over 100 million VND/year from cassava, including Pa Nho and Ho Thi Huong families in Thanh commune. With innovation, daring to think, daring to do, and striving to develop production and business, they deserve to be economic leaders, setting a shining example for the villagers to follow.
This spring of 2024 marks 50 years (1974-2024) when people from localities in the province went to build a new economy in Huong Hoa district. Currently, 5 new economic communes along National Highway 9, including Tan Hop, Tan Lien, Tan Lap, Tan Long, and Tan Thanh, have reached the finish line of building communes that meet new rural standards in the 2015-2020 period. Leaving behind the hardships of the early days of starting a business, thousands of households from the lowlands are working side by side with ethnic minorities to build a new life. The gathering and cultural exchange, customs, and practices between the lowlands and the highlands have clarified the muddy and the clear, creating a new impetus for people to learn from each other and develop together.
Passing Lang Vay, turning onto the vast Lia road, there is no longer the wild hills, reeds and weeds like before. Instead, there is the endless green of banana and cassava fields, bringing high income to the people. The highland villages have a new look, a new life of prosperity and wealth.
Thanh Hai
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