Having no farmland, 55-year-old Thach Thi Nam used to travel to distant cities and provinces to earn her living as a hired laborer. Now she enjoys a much more comfortable life in her hometown: "I used to work as a porter in Ho Chi Minh City but it was too hard a job for me and I could only visit home once a month. Now I can earn enough from farming right in my hometown."

Tra Cu production was low and unstable due to poor farmland that supported only one paddy crop a year. Local living conditions have greatly improved since local farmers were taught by Tra Cu authorities how to restructure and rotate their crops and apply modern machines and technologies to their production. Tra Cu farmers now make thousands of USD a year, which was impossible for them in the past. Thach Thi Dung says farming has enabled her to afford her children’s higher education in Ho Chi Minh City: "We now grow peanuts and green peas in addition to rice and this has brought us much more income than rice cultivation alone. This has eased our daily difficulties and ensured my child’s education."

Kim Thi Bich Phuong and her family in Tan Son commune, Tra Cu district, have escaped poverty thanks to growing both rice and other crops. Her family now earns close to 2000 USD a year. Phuong say they can earn 5 times more from chili peppers than from rice: "We have shifted from growing rice and other crops to growing other crops only. Cucumber and bitter melon earn us 500 USD each in profit within one harvesting crop. Our harvest of chili peppers also looks promising, as we can harvest up to 80kg of chili daily and the current chili price in the market is quite high."

Nearly 4000 ha of farmland previously dedicated to low-productivity rice cultivation has been shifted to growing more profitable crops and cattle breeding. Tra Cu authorities have also organized 60 courses to teach advanced farming technologies to local farmers.

Tra Cu district has allocated reserved up to 2.25 million USD to upgrading the local infrastructure over the past 3 years. The authorities have loaned 5 million USD to local farmers to boost production and 850,000 USD to help disadvantaged Khmer households build new houses. Several communications campaigns were launched to help people escape poverty, reducing a 30% poor household rate to 21.15%. Kim Ngoc Suong, head of Ethnic Division of Tra Cu district, said: "Khmer people in Tra Cu district now enjoy much better living conditions thanks to the local authorities’ efforts to help them restructure their crops and production methods. We have recorded significant improvements in the local economy, which were reflected in this year’s Sen Dolta festival, one of the 4 biggest Khmer festivals of the year."