In response to the campaign "The Elderly Good at Doing Economic Activities” launched by the Vietnam Association of the Elderly, 70 percent of local old people are directly and indirectly participating in economic activities, mainly in services, agro-forestry product processing, production of construction materials and farming.

Ha Phuc Tien, 72, in Hong Tien village, Y Can commune, Tran Yen district, used to be a soldier who took part in fierce battles. After returning from the army, he continued working in the locality.

In 2005, he retired. Although he has pension, his children grew up and their life is not difficult, he talked with his children to invest in renovating the family’s land into a farm.

He and the family of his fifth son planted over 200 Dien grapefruit trees, which are now in harvest, and hired land to plant 3.5 hectares of mulberry to raise silkworms, and chickens and ducks with a scale of 1,000 heads.

At present, his family holds Tran Yen district’s biggest silkworm farm. Each year, his family earns over 100 million VND in profit from selling nearly 20 tonnes of chickens and ducks and nearly 200 million VND from selling 3 tonnes of cocoons.

Yen Bai province has to date had nearly 10,000 elder people bestowed with the title "The elderly good at doing economic activities”, notably Dam Quang Khai, Vu Huu Le (Yen Bai city); Pham Huy Truan, Ngo Van Chung (Yen Binh); Giang Sinh, Sung Su Pao (Mu Cang Chai); Hoang Van An (Van Yen); and Lo Van On (Tram Tau).

It is now home to 700 elderly people owning farms or enterprises and 904 members of the Association of the Elderly succeeding in economic activities.

Contributions of the elderly in economic development have created a strong motivation, thus helping to boost local socio-economic development, promoting agricultural economy and rural development and the effective implementation of the locality’s major economic programmes and projects.