That was the sharing of Mr. Nguyen Duc Thuyen, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hai Hung Commune, Hai Lang District when we asked about the process of building advanced new rural areas.

That is true. In 2020, Hai Hung commune was merged from Hai Xuan and Hai Vinh communes according to Resolution No. 832/NQ-UBTVQH14 of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Assembly. The "new rural" baggage has only one of the two communes, Hai Vinh, recognized by the People's Committee of Quang Tri province as meeting new rural standards in 2018.

However, after merging the commune, the Party Committee, government and people of Hai Hung both stabilized the organization and focused on overcoming difficulties, immediately started building new rural areas and by 2021, Hai Hung commune was recognized by the People's Committee of Quang Tri province as a commune meeting new rural standards.

People of Hai Hung commune join forces to clean up village roads and alleys - Photo: Tri Anh

The day the commune received the certificate of recognition for meeting the advanced new rural standards was as joyful as a festival. The happiest were the elderly who were “near death and far from heaven” who did not expect to witness such a change in their homeland. The roads not only between communes and villages but also the alleys that used to be muddy up to the knees every winter were now high, flat, and smooth. Cars could reach all the alleys and houses because Hai Hung commune was in a rural area but the roads had names and the houses had numbers, and they were neat and tidy.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Thiep, a resident of Lam Thuy village, Hai Vinh commune (old) told me: “In the past, it was cold because of hunger. Nowadays, even though it is 16-17 degrees outside, I still feel warm inside. Warm because I not only eat enough but also eat enough nutrients. Warm because children study in schools that are “hardened”, “advanced” and increasingly standardized. In the commune, there are 4 schools that meet the standard of level 1 facilities, including: Hai Xuan Kindergarten; Hai Xuan Primary and Secondary School; Hai Vinh Primary and Secondary School and Hai Vinh Kindergarten.

As for the story of the fields, in the past, during the rainy season, the fields were flooded, and after the rain, the fields were dry and cracked. So farmers wanted to visit their fields but were very hesitant because not only were the roads bumpy, but sometimes there was no road to the fields. Now, the main road in the fields has been hardened, meeting the need to transport tools and materials for production with a length of 15.34 km, of which 7.67 km is cement concrete, 7.67 km is crushed stone, reaching a rate of 100%.

The rate of agricultural land area that is actively irrigated and drained reaches 95.5%. The commune uses Nam Thach Han irrigation water source through canals N4, N6 and the pumping station system of cooperatives and cooperative groups to irrigate relatively large areas, ensuring irrigation for 2 production crops. The irrigation canal system has been maintained, repaired and newly built by cooperatives every year from the State's support budget and people's resources.

Promoting the potential advantages of the locality, the People's Committee of the commune has mobilized people to invest in intensive farming, develop organic production, apply advanced technology, science and technology to livestock and cultivation. A number of models of cultivation and livestock on key plants and animals have been established, such as: a model of cooperation with Thua Thien - Hue Seed Company to produce and consume rice seeds at Lam Thuy Cooperative, Thi Ong Cooperative with an area of ​​80 hectares, output of 450 tons/year; planting sand dunes with an area of ​​15 hectares, generating an income of 120-160 million VND/ha; a model of planting medicinal plants with an area of ​​7.5 hectares, currently harvesting the first crop. Along with that, people have applied scientific advances to develop small-scale handicrafts, traditional occupations, trade, services, carpentry, masonry, mechanics, etc.

At the same time, encourage children to work abroad or work as workers for companies located in the area to solve employment and increase income. Up to now, the average income per capita in the commune has reached 51.1 million VND/person/year; the multidimensional poverty rate is 3.83%...

From that result, in 2023, Hai Hung was trusted by the leaders of Hai Lang district to strive to build a commune that meets advanced new rural standards. This is both a great honor and the responsibility of the Party Committee, government and people in the commune. Because meeting advanced new rural standards means that the face of the countryside will be improved, and people's lives will be raised. And that is also the aspiration of the people of the commune.

Sharing with us, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thuyen, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hai Hung Commune said: In 2022, after reviewing, Hai Hung Commune only achieved 12/19 criteria, 63/75 criteria of advanced new rural commune. Although the numbers not achieved are not many, they are difficult, very difficult criteria. Meanwhile, along with that, the criteria that need to be achieved such as: traffic, school facilities compared to the advanced new rural criteria are still quite a distance.

Hai Hung is a commune in a low-lying area, about 10 km from both Hai Lang district center and Quang Tri town. People's lives largely depend on agricultural production. In agriculture, rice is monoculture. The population is not distributed in a concentrated manner. The journey to build a commune that meets advanced new rural standards, apart from a little experience after 3 years of building new rural areas, along with the political determination of the Party Committee and the entire political system, and the consensus of the people, the rest is difficulty and challenge; the most prominent is that both internal and external resources are difficult.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Thuyen shared: If we can overcome these challenges, it will be very difficult, but it will be even more difficult if we cannot achieve the goal of achieving advanced new rural standards. People will lose trust and it will be much more difficult to strengthen the people's trust in the Party and the government.

So we must start a new motto of "only discussing progress, not retreat" and start with the work that is "not easy to do" but can be done such as: perfecting the Steering Committee for new rural construction of the commune with the Secretary of the Party Committee of the commune as the Head; perfecting the Management Board of the new rural program with the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune as the Head, including capable, experienced and dedicated cadres; assigning responsibilities to members of the management board in charge of criteria, in charge of each village and hamlet in the direction of: clearly who is responsible, clearly what is done, clearly the completion time. Maintaining the regime of regular and ad hoc meetings and exchanges to promptly remove difficulties and obstacles...

Along with that, the commune has made full use of the radio system of villages and cooperatives in the area to convey policies on new rural construction to cadres, party members, and people of all walks of life, helping cadres and people better understand the purpose, content, and guiding ideology of the central, provincial, and district governments on new rural construction, creating consensus among the people, thereby proactively participating in the contents of new rural construction.

From 2021 to 2023, Hai Hung commune has mobilized and integrated capital sources to implement the National Target Program on New Rural Construction, with a total implementation cost of VND 57,563 million, of which: VND 28,258 million from the budget, accounting for 49.09%; more than half of the remaining amount is voluntarily contributed by people, businesses and cooperatives.

With that funding, the commune has continued to build civil works such as concreting village and inter-village roads, lighting systems along village and inter-village roads, "hardening" the main roads in the fields, contributing to bringing the rate of villages and hamlets meeting cultural standards according to regulations to 100% (6/6 villages and hamlets), of which 2/6 hamlets were recognized as model new rural villages (Lam Thuy, Tra Loc).

On May 17, 2024, Hai Hung commune was recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a commune meeting the advanced new rural standards in 2023. This result proves that when the people are in agreement, there is no difficulty or challenge that cannot be overcome. It is also a journey for the Party Committee, government and people of Hai Hung commune to embark on a new journey to build a commune meeting the model new rural standards in the near future.

Nguyen Tri Anh