Waiting on the mountainside

In many remote areas of Quang Ngai province, where transportation is difficult and travel conditions are poor, poverty still clings to people's lives. A two-level local government has been implemented, and commune and ward officials are closer to the people. People living halfway up the mountain expect changes that will help improve the quality of life and make it brighter.

THE WHOLE VILLAGE CARRIED COFFEE

To reach Kon Tua village from the center of Ngoc Linh commune, one must go around a towering mountain. The narrow concrete road spiraling from the foot of the mountain to the top is always steep, forcing motorcyclists to hold the throttle tightly to avoid slipping. The most challenging part is the last kilometer after the concrete road ends. The persistent rainy season has made this only way slippery and dangerous.

Ms. Y Cho and her family are cleaning the tables and chairs on the porch. The housewarming party just ended the day before, she is still busy and has not been able to go to the fields as planned. The newly built wooden house is spacious, with an area of over 50 square meters, clean tiled floors and many brand new household items. This is the sweet result of Ms. Y Cho and her husband's savings after many years of saving, the total construction cost is over 200 million VND.

Ms. Y Cho's family has 2,000 coffee trees, both old and new. The old trees are old, the new trees bear little fruit, so each year she only harvests 20-25 bags of coffee. The farm is 2 km from home, and every season, she and her husband "carry" coffee home, then take it to the commune center to sell. The road to the farm is difficult to travel, the road to the commune is narrower than the suspension bridge, so she is worried about a good harvest. "Before 2022, I went down to the commune by a dirt road, which was very difficult. Now that the road has been invested in, it is faster, but the road from the farm to home is very difficult, and buying and selling agricultural products is also slow. Coffee has to be carried from the farm home," Ms. Y Cho said.

Kon Tua hamlet, Ngoc Linh commune, Quang Ngai province, located halfway up the mountain, has 27 households living, working on terraced fields and growing coffee. During the coffee harvest season, each household picks from 30 to 40 bags, up to 60-70 bags in good harvests. After picking, the whole village carries coffee from the fields back home and down to the commune center. Each bag contains 50-60 kg of fresh beans, adults and young people in the village help each other transport and carry rice and coffee. Hard work unites the villagers to love and share more.

Mr. A Doi shared: “The road from the village to the commune is steep and dangerous, transporting goods is also dangerous. We cannot carry much or transport heavy goods when crossing the suspension bridge. It is difficult to transport construction materials when building a house, and it is expensive to ride a motorbike or carry them on foot. The most difficult thing is that there is no suspension bridge and road to the production area. We really hope to build a road from the production area to the village.”

DREAM OF INNOVATION

Ngoc Linh commune has 22 villages, more than 1,680 households, of which 97.4% are ethnic minorities, mainly Xo Dang people. From the commune center to the farthest village is about 16 km, traveling by motorbike and on foot, so the problem of socio-economic development is a big challenge. The commune has the strength to develop coffee, medicinal herbs, Ngoc Linh ginseng, but the method of production and trading of agricultural products is mainly transported by baskets, walking from the fields and villages to the commune center. The long distance, high transportation costs, so the production of goods has been a difficult problem for many years. In the highlands and border areas, commune officials support villages and hamlets to guide people in farming, planting and borrowing capital for family economy. Merging provinces, cities and communes and wards, people expect changes to help improve their lives, make roads faster, and buy and sell agricultural products easier.

More than 5 years ago, Ngoc Linh commune (old) had 80% of poor households, after the merger, multidimensional poor households were nearly 40% and income poor households were 24%. The Party Committee and the commune government set a target that by 2030, the average income per capita would reach 50 million VND/year and there would be no more poor households; the total annual tree planting area would reach 836 hectares, developing an additional 290 hectares of medicinal plants, Ngoc Linh ginseng, ginseng... This is a big challenge in the commune's difficult conditions.

To carry out the innovation for the people of Ngoc Linh mountain, the local government has made efforts to mobilize, exploit and effectively use all resources to invest in building economic and social infrastructure in a synchronous and modern direction. Developing industries and fields with potential and advantages, producing medicinal agricultural products , especially Ngoc Linh ginseng to turn the commune into a key area for medicinal materials associated with preserving, processing and consuming products to increase people's income. At the same time, the commune focuses on digital transformation, applying digital technology associated with administrative reform, improving the efficiency of serving people and businesses.

Ngoc Linh Commune Party Secretary A Phuong shared that only when people escape poverty can the commune develop its socio-economic stability. Local authorities go to villages to encourage people, "hold their hands and show them how to do things"; encourage people to boldly borrow capital to do business towards escaping poverty. Change the awareness and habits of each household, each village, and hamlet to develop the economy from the strengths of available raw materials and medicinal herbs.

In mountainous areas, the commune's border is wider, the population is sparse, and transportation is difficult. In addition, the lack of staff and civil servants and the unsynchronized infrastructure are major challenges and obstacles that the new local government must overcome. The expectation of innovation of the Xo Dang people is the belief and motivation that helps the local government and cadres in the mountainous area of Ngoc Linh commune, Quang Ngai province to start building their homeland on the existing foundation and potential. In addition, the supporting policies and solutions of Quang Ngai province help the mountainous area develop faster and become closer to the lowlands.

DONG HUYEN

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/mong-cho-o-lung-chung-nui-389197.html