With over 19,000 hectares of Thac Ba Lake water surface, in recent years, Yen Binh District, Yen Bai Province has focused on directing aquaculture development with many solutions, especially paying attention to attracting, inviting, and creating conditions for enterprises and cooperatives to invest and apply technical advances in large-scale cage fish farming. Thanks to that, up to now, the whole district has 2 enterprises, 5 cooperatives, 6 cooperative groups with over 2,000 fish cages; the total annual aquaculture output of the whole district reaches 8,500 tons.

In 2024, Yen Binh district aims to increase the aquaculture and fishing area to 800 hectares, stably develop 2,500 fish cages, aquaculture and fishing output reach over 9,200 tons, the average growth rate of aquaculture production value is from 1.8 - 2%/year; the structure of aquaculture accounts for 19 - 20% in the structure of agricultural, forestry and fishery production value.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha, a fish farmer in Thinh Hung commune, Yen Binh district, said that thanks to the district's support policies, her family supplies tens of thousands of fish fry to the market each year, bringing in hundreds of millions of dong in revenue.

“Making fingerlings doesn’t require as much capital as making meat fish. Fingerlings can be sold after 2 months, 5 months, 7 months, or 1-2 weeks if the customer wants, so we can deliver them right away to get the capital,” said Ms. Ha.

In addition to aquaculture, Yen Binh district has also developed strongly in growing Dai Minh specialty grapefruit with over 1,000 hectares, mainly concentrated in Dai Minh and Han Da communes. The district has paid attention to directing grapefruit growers to improve the quality and value of grapefruit products through agricultural production according to VietGAP standards; at the same time, inviting research institutes and universities to transfer technical measures to maintain and improve the quality of grapefruit. Thanks to that, Dai Minh grapefruit products of the district have been recognized as meeting 3-star OCOP standards.

Mr. Pham Van Kim, a grapefruit grower in Phai Tung village, Dai Minh commune, Yen Binh district said: "To maintain Dai Minh grapefruit for a long time, first of all, the pesticides must follow the process, second, the fertilizer must mainly be microbial fertilizer, like my family here mainly uses soybeans and soaked fish to water and care for the plants."

Mr. La Tuan Hung, Vice Chairman of Yen Binh District People's Committee, shared that the proactive application of scientific and technological advances in cultivation by people and businesses, while applying safe production processes, is a premise for realizing the goal of sustainable agricultural production in Yen Binh; thereby, gradually increasing people's income and meeting the criteria for building new rural areas in the locality.

“The district has focused on transforming the breed structure with high-yield, high-quality breeds. The district is also very interested in linking agricultural and forestry production models with tourism development. The district will also select areas of Thac Ba Lake island to plan green trees to develop valuable and long-lived timber trees,” said Mr. La Tuan Hung.

In Nghia Lo town, in recent years, the conversion of crop structure on inefficient land areas to crops with high economic value has been promoted. With advantages in climate, soil and farming skills of the people, Nghia Lo town is currently strongly developing fruit trees such as grapefruit, dragon fruit, longan, guava... with a total area of ​​over 500 hectares, annual output reaching nearly 970 tons, bringing in tens of billions of VND in revenue for the people.

Mr. Tran Ba ​​Duc, in village 8, Nghia Lo commune, Nghia Lo town, happily shared that to have an average income of 500 million VND/year, his family grows a variety of trees such as dragon fruit, longan, star apple, grapefruit, plum, and other trees planted in different areas for convenience in care and harvesting.

“The advantage here is that the land we are on has very little rain so the fruit is delicious. The irrigation water is brought down from the stream,” Mr. Tran Ba ​​Duc said excitedly.

Mr. Vu Duc Trung, Vice Chairman of Nghia Lo Town People's Committee, said that the town has planned fruit trees neatly by region to facilitate the direction and guidance of people to develop production in a concentrated and specialized direction, creating high-quality products.

At the same time, the town also encourages businesses to invest in agricultural production, sign contracts to consume products for people, thereby increasing product value, creating prestige and expanding the consumption market.

“The town has also encouraged fruit growers to establish cooperatives. These cooperatives will be the units that take the lead and guide people in implementing safe production processes in the direction of developing OCOP products, which have been trusted by consumers and consumed very well,” Mr. Vu Duc Trung added.

In fact, in addition to the efforts of local authorities and functional sectors, since the implementation of NTM construction, many farming households, enterprises and cooperatives have boldly changed their methods, approaches and transformed their production models to increase income value per unit area.

People in each region have their own way of doing things, but they all take full advantage of local advantages to boost production and consumption of products, all aiming to gradually improve the material and spiritual life of themselves and the community.