Farmers in Pu Sam Cáp Commune, Lai Châu Province tend a melon garden. — VNA/VNS Photo Trung Dũng

LAI CHÂU — Village heads are exemplary and trusted figures for people in ethnic communities. They also take the lead in transforming production, economic development and calling for action, contributing to raising income and reducing poverty.

With the ability to speak in ways the people trust and act on, these individuals play a special role as a bridge to bring the Party's guidelines and the State's laws specific to ethnic groups, effectively implementing these policies.

At the same time, through village chiefs and other trusted individuals, they capture the people's sentiments and aspirations.

Over the past few years, Quàng Văn Mán, head of the Ná Đon Village in Pu Sam Cáp Commune, Lai Châu Province, has been a leader in his community's economic development. Mán has switched crops and livestock to raise his family's income and create jobs for local residents.

In 2020, after learning from the internet and people's experiences in other provinces, he successfully conducted a melon cultivation model on nearly 2ha with two different melon crops per year, earning over VNĐ150 million (US$5,700) annually.

Along with raising the income of his own family, Mán and his family members have helped four households escape poverty, creating regular jobs for six workers with income over VNĐ6 million ($228) per month and seasonal jobs for 15-19 workers with a daily income of about VNĐ200,000 (roughly $8) per person.

He also helps transfer skills to people in the village to work together on developing economic activities and reducing poverty.

Mán said that as village head, he promoted his role in changing crops and livestock.

After seeing the results, he helped other villagers do the same, with good results.

In the future, he would continue to encourage people to change production models for economic development, increasing incomes and overcoming poverty in their homeland.

Spreading knowledge

Thanks to Mán's education and support in seeds and cultivation techniques, in 2023, Lò Văn Đẻ's family in Ná Đon Village boldly converted over 1ha of food crop land to melon cultivation.

After three years, the move has brought practical results and increased the family's income.

Đẻ said that he used to work with the village head to gain experience. After witnessing the economic efficiency of the model, he started his own melon production and invited villagers to join, achieving high yields with less work.

Thanks to the success of Mán's model, dozens of households in Pu Sam Cáp Commune have switched from less efficient crops to melon cultivation on about 10ha.

For the 2025-2030 term, the Party committee of Pu Sam Cáp Commune has identified crop, livestock restructuring and commodity agriculture development as key economic drivers to reduce local poverty.

To meet this goal, the commune aims to promote the exemplary role of village heads and other trusted persons in encouraging people to transform crop and livestock production across the commune.

Deputy Chairman Ngô Văn Lâm of Pu Sam Cáp Commune People’s Committee said that during the commune's first Party congress (2025-2030), the locality clearly defined the role of village heads and trusted persons in socio-economic development and concentrated production.

Village chiefs would be a very important factor in building economic development models to switch low-efficiency land to higher-yield crops, increasing household incomes and contributing to sustainable poverty reduction as well as raising income criteria in the national target programme on new rural development.

Currently, Pu Sam Cáp Commune has 36 recognised village heads and trusted persons. Their role in instructing people to implement the Party's guidelines and State policies and practising production restructuring and economic development is key to achieving the goals set by the commune's first Party congress for 2025-2030. — VNS