At the National Congress of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union VIII, term 2023 – 2028 which took place in late 2023, Mr. Nguyen Huy Anh, Chairman of the Farmers’ Union of Son La province, said that the results of the activities of the provincial Farmers’ Union in Son La have contributed to the whole political system of Son La province, transforming Son La from a poor province into a “Phenomenon of Agriculture in the whole country”.
Son La ranks fourth in the country in terms of poverty rate in 2022 with 23.9% (lower than Lai Chau, Ha Giang and Dien Bien). The average monthly per capita income in Son La is 2.141 million VND, ranking 61st out of 63 provinces.
In recent years, it is not difficult to come across successful lessons from “millionaire farmers” in Son La.
Mr. Hang A So, Chairman of the Farmers’ Union of Pa Khen 1 hamlet, Moc Chau Farm Town, is one of the 100 outstanding Vietnamese farmers in 2022. So’s family currently has 3 hectares of late-season apricots, yielding an average of 50 tons of fruits per year, earning about 1 billion VND. Along with apricot trees, his family also plants 1 hectare of sugar orange-planting, yielding more than 20 tons of fruits, which are sold for over 500 million VND per year.
Or Mr. Nguyen Van Ngu’s cow farm with over 2 hectares of grass, a solidly built barn with full facilities for farming, such as milking machines, plows, grass cutters… In 2022, his family earned 385 tons of fresh milk sold to Moc Chau Dairy Cow Variety Joint Stock Company, earning over 4.8 billion VND.
And Mrs. Vu Thi Nhung’s family has 7 hectares of seasonal vegetables: cabbage, kale, radish, luffa, pumpkin, sweet corn… selling over 200 tons of vegetables and fruits each year, earning approximately 1 billion VND.
Son La currently ranks second in the country in terms of fruit tree cultivation area; with 145 facilities applying good agricultural practices; granting 294 planting area codes covering an area of 3,141 hectares for export purposes; constructing 254 safe agricultural, forestry, and aquatic supply chains; 110 OCOP products; has 26 Sơn La agricultural and aquatic products awarded with a certificate of trademark protection; has 744 cooperatives operating in the fields of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; exports 17 agricultural products to markets in 21 countries, such as the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, South Korea, China…
To achieve these results, the Farmers’ Union of Son La province has focused on implementing specific solutions, closely related to the actual situation. The union has renewed the content and form of propaganda, mobilizing farmer members directly and in coordination with departments, sectors, and enterprises to build highly efficient business models linking enterprises with farmers.
At the same time, services, consulting, and support activities for farmers regarding capital, supplies, seedlings, breeds, knowledge, production technology, processing, and product consumption have also been organized, with a focus on improving the performance of the province’s Farmers’ Support Center.
The union has also focused on directing the construction of occupation-based farmers’ associations according to the principles of “5 self” and “5 together” attached to the construction of value chain-oriented production and business associations. Encourage good farmers to participate in guiding and supporting the development of production and business, and play a core role in building occupation-based farmers’ associations, developing production and business associations.
Finally, the union proactively coordinates and effectively implements the Coordination Program between the Provincial Party Committee of Son La and the Central Vietnam Farmers’ Union for the 2022 – 2025 period and cooperation programs with relevant units, with a focus on propaganda, mobilization, and improvement of production and business capacity for farmer members.
