>> Yen Bai’s Veterans’ Association convenes 7th congress

Nguyen Ngoc Minh, a veteran from Lang Gia hamlet, Yen Thang district, has been a good example for forestry economic development. In 2014, after retiring, Minh switched all the area of his mixed garden and ineffective forest and hill land to cinnamon and fruit farms.  

Currently, he is owning nearly 2 hectares of 7-year-old cinnamon and 70 green-skinned grapefruit trees, earning over 100 million VND (4,025 USD) each year from the farms. Many people, including war veterans in the village, have learnt after Minh’s model.

To date, Lang Gia village has established a cinnamon production group that gathers nine local war veterans. They have encouraged members of the Association of War Veterans and local residents to switch their ineffective farms to cinnamon and fruit ones, and supported them in seeds, farming techniques, and sale.

Officials and members of the association have actively joined training courses to seek more effective plant and livestock varieties. Many outstanding models have been found, helping improve the living conditions of veterans and contributing to sustainable poverty reduction. Particularly, the movement of "veterans support one another in poverty reduction, economic production” has honoured more than 1,400 outstanding collectives and individuals.

Each year, more than 650 veterans’ households reported income of over 200 million VND. In the past five years, the Association of War Veterans at all levels have mobilised more than 18 billion VND to help veterans develop more than 540 hectares of fruit farms, 11,201 hectares of industrial tree farms, 511.5 aquatic farms, and more than 135,060 cattle and over 402,000 heads of poultries.

The association at all levels have effectively used nearly 900 billion VND provided by the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and over 7 billion VND from the National Fund for employment support to assist more than 18,600 war veterans’ households to develop economic development, creating jobs for more than 24,000 labourers. Meanwhile, 2,469 households have been given the title of strong production and business establishment, and many typical models honored and replicated by the association at all levels.