20 years ago, Chu Se mountainous district had 15 communes and towns, all of which were in remote, isolated and extremely disadvantaged areas. The total population of the district was 133,253 people, of which ethnic minorities accounted for nearly 48%. The countryside was vast, sparsely populated, self-sufficient, with backward production methods, mainly slash-and-burn, plowing, and pruning, with a severe lack of capital, the poverty rate at that time was up to 40.11%... In that context, the leaders of Chu Se district paid great attention to poverty reduction. The district Party Committee and People's Committee issued a Resolution and a specific Action Program, aiming to mobilize the entire political system, departments, branches and organizations to participate and focus resources and investment capital to help ethnic minorities sustainably reduce poverty.
In particular, the policy capital managed by the VBSP has helped Chu Se land to truly turn around, covered in a vast green color of tens of thousands of hectares of rubber, coffee, pepper, fruit trees, and medicinal plants; the villages have become more open and prosperous, no longer desolate and deserted as before; the lives of ethnic minorities here are increasingly prosperous and bright. Thanks to that, Chu Se district has achieved impressive poverty reduction results. In the past three years, the whole district has had 2,315 households escape poverty. The poverty rate by the end of 2023 is 6.24%, the near-poor household rate is 6.17%; most communes have been removed from the list of communes in region 3 - a particularly difficult area.
Mr. Puh Lach - the village elder of A Mo, Ia BLang commune, was also surprised by the changes in his hometown. He said: "In just a moment, hunger and poverty in the whole village no longer exist. All thanks to the help of the Party, the State, along with preferential capital from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies".
Chairman of the Rmah H Be Net District People's Committee said: The majority of ethnic minorities in the district are gradually escaping poverty and striving to become rich in their homeland. Many Gia Rai and Ba Na ethnic households have become millionaires thanks to using preferential capital to cultivate and intensively cultivate industrial crops such as coffee, rubber, durian, etc. This result was achieved thanks to the district's Social Policy Bank focusing nearly 480 billion VND in credit capital, prioritizing investment for poor households, disadvantaged ethnic minority families and other policy beneficiaries. Along with that, policy credit officers are not afraid of hardships, regularly stay in the area, enthusiastically instructing people to use loans to develop agricultural and forestry production, restore and expand traditional handicrafts. Policy capital has become the "pillar" of poverty reduction in the district.
Director of the district People's Credit Fund Nguyen Dinh Ly said: First of all, the local Party Committee and government have identified sustainable poverty reduction as an important and long-term task, thereby creating conditions for the People's Credit Fund to focus on mobilizing financial resources to one focal point, focusing on exploiting local budget capital. In particular, after 10 years of implementing Directive No. 40-CT/TW, the People's Council and People's Committee of Chu Se district have prioritized transferring local budget capital entrusted to the People's Credit Fund with a total amount of 11.5 billion VND, contributing to raising the total policy capital of the whole district by June 30, 2024 to 473 billion VND, an increase of 34 billion VND compared to the beginning of the year.
Also from the participation of the entire political system, the close coordination of agencies, departments and organizations, after 10 years of implementing Directive No. 40-CT/TW, the district People's Credit Fund has persistently and proactively innovated procedures and credit granting methods, fully and quickly meeting the production and business needs of poor households and other policy beneficiaries who enjoy preferential credit policies of the State. The construction and consolidation of a network covering the entire area, through 260 Savings and Loan Groups and 15 Transaction Points of the People's Credit Fund in communes and towns, has contributed to creating the most favorable conditions for the poor and other policy beneficiaries to fully access policy credit services.
After 10 years of implementing Directive No. 40-CT/TW, preferential capital has contributed to changing the face of rural mountainous areas and improving the lives of ethnic minorities. The strengths of agriculture, forestry, and traditional occupations have been selected. The entire population and the entire district have gone to the fields and forests to create their own income.
In Ia BLang commune, thanks to the timely support of preferential capital as a lever, all villages in the commune have reached the new rural finish line and are building advanced new rural areas. 100% of poor and near-poor households have received favorable preferential loans. A typical example is Mr. Ro Mah Bre in Nha village, who is mentioned by everyone as a model of sustainable poverty reduction. Mr. Ro Mah Bre confided: “I have a lot of fields, but I only grow cassava, rice, and corn. I work hard, but at the end of the year I don't earn much, and I even go hungry. It was not until 2000 that I dared to borrow capital from the Social Policy Bank to learn from the Kinh people to grow pepper and coffee. I went to some households to learn and received enthusiastic guidance.”
3 years later, in the first harvest, Mr. Bre harvested 1.5 tons of pepper, at a price of 100,000 VND/kg, thanks to which Mr. Bre was able to pay off part of his bank debt. By the second harvest, he had repaid all his capital and made a profit. Realizing the high economic efficiency, he continued to invest in planting 300 more pepper pillars and so his family's garden grew to 1,000 pillars. In addition, he also planted 700 coffee trees and 7 sao of rice.
The effectiveness of policy capital in Chu Se has aroused the desire to escape poverty and get rich of ethnic minorities. Also from policy credit capital, the mountainous ethnic minority areas in the Central Highlands have moved closer to the lowlands, and poverty is being pushed back. In the coming time, together with all levels and sectors, the Social Policy Bank of Chu Se district will continue to persistently and make every effort to focus on mobilizing capital, trying every day so that preferential capital can reach many poor households and disadvantaged ethnic minority families, contributing to the implementation of the economic development plan, ensuring sustainable social security, so that the highland countryside becomes more open and prosperous.
