(VOVWORLD) - This year the happiness of Van Kieu ethnic people in Truong Son commune, Quang Binh province, doubled. They had a bumper crop even though the harvest work was easier. That was because the soldiers and staff of Lang Mo Border Guard Station, part of the Quang Binh Border Guard Force, had given them a plowing machine.
 Doc May villagers are happy to receive a multi-function milling machine. |
Although Doc May hamlet is only 20 km from the center of Truong Son commune, it takes 5 hours to walk there. With no electricity, all work of the Doc May villagers is done manually.
On visits to Doc May, the soldiers of Lang Mo Border Station were bothered by seeing Van Kieu women laboriously pounding and grinding rice by hand.
The Lang Mo border force called for funding to buy a small multi-function plow and a milling machine for the locals. But both machines required either electricity or gasoline to run.
At the end of last year, thanks to a charity program called "Providing machines for the border area", the border soldiers were able to deliver the machines to the local people.
At the same time, a model called "Lighting up the border areas" was implemented to bring electricity to the village. To hamlets not yet on the power grid, the Border Guards donated some solar-powered lights.
Ho Thanh O of Cay Su hamlet says that now that they have electricity, farming is easier and public order is more secure, adding, “We’re very happy to have electricity now. Everything looks brighter. The locals’ awareness has much improved and more activities are being held.”
 Thanks to having multi-function milling machines, the locals’ farming is much easier while the productivity is higher. |
In the past, Ho Xuan Trung of Da Chat hamlet in Truong Son commune had to get all the family members up very early in the morning to plow their 500-square-meter field.
At harvest time, it took the family several days to harvest and thresh the rice by hand. Farm work was even harder if there was a rainstorm. It used to take a whole day to pound a day’s worth of rice.
But since the " Providing machines for the border area" program was launched, the family’s life has gotten easier and their productivity has significantly increased.
Trung said he now only has to carry the unhusked rice home, dry it, and grind it. It takes him less than an hour to have rice ready to cook.
He told VOV, “In the past, farming used to be hard work. Now we have electricity. The border guard force has persuaded benefactors to buy machines for us. Now farming is much easier. The rice yield has increased 90%.”
Lieutenant Colonel Le Dinh Huan, head of the Lang Mo Border Guard Station, said the program has attracted many donors and created a movement to provide modern farm vehicles and equipment to people in mountain and border areas.
“Giving farmers plows and milling machines converts manual production to mechanized production and uses technical advances to improve people's lives. There are 19 hamlets in the area, most of which have been given new machines. Some hamlets have been given two grinders,” said Huan.
It wasn’t easy to transport plows and milling machines to the hamlets at the top of the Truong Son range, where there are no roads. But the machines have greatly improved the lives of the Van Kieu people who live there.