Getting rich from forest

According to the village leader, La Van Ngoc, the village originally had just over 70 households. In 2019, it merged with three other villages—Dai Duong, Khe Khuoi, and Rang Dong—to form current Ban village. Today, the village has more than 170 households, of which about 70% are from the Tay and Dao ethnic groups.

A corner of Ban village.

Over the past decade, under the guidance and encouragement of local authorities, the villagers have focused on switching to forestry, mainly planting acacia.

The entire village has more than 1,200 hectares of planted forests, with each household growing from a few to more than 10 hectares. Each hectare of acacia, when harvested after 4-5 years, generates a profit of over 100 million VND (nearly 3,927 USD).

Thanks to the forest, the villagers' lives have gradually improved.

In addition to forestry, more than 20 households in the village have bought trucks to collect and transport timber to processing facilities in the district. Each of them provides jobs for over ten labourers, earning 350,000-450,000 VND per day.

As a result, the villagers no longer worry about unemployment. The number of poor households has sharply decreased over the years, and now only six remain in poverty. Dozens of families now earn hundreds of millions of VND annually.

As the economy has developed and living standards have improved, many local households have built spacious houses. Some have constructed villas with a Thai-style roof, spanning several hundreds of square meters, and equipped with expensive amenities for daily living.

Some households, such as those of Vi Van Thuy, Dang Van Khuong, and Doan Van Du, have bought excavators and trucks for transportation and economic development. The appearance of Ban village changes daily, and its people are now prosperous.

Building new-style rural village

With the development of the forest economy, the lives of the people in Ban village have become more prosperous, giving them the resources to join hands in new-style rural area building.

With improved quality of life, many elderly in Ban village now use smartphones.

Although the road from the commune center to the village has improved, it still crosses two streams, and during heavy rains and floods, the water can rise to 2-3 meters, with strong currents that pose a risk to safety.

Ban village has built a fairly spacious cultural house, but facilities such as playgrounds and equipment for cultural, sports, and recreational activities are still incomplete. Therefore, the village management board has planned to build more infrastructure for the village.

With the goal of making Ban village a new-style rural area, in the near future, along with implementing national target programmes for socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas, the Duong Huu commune People's Committee has intended to invest in upgrading the village's infrastructure.

During the implementation process, the local administration aims to tap into the community's internal resources with the motto "The authorities and the people work together" to invest in essential projects.

Currently, the Project Management Unit of Son Dong district is the main investor in building a spillway to ensure locals’ safe and convenient travel, with the construction expected to start before the Lunar New Year.

Regarding the irrigation system and other infrastructure projects, the commune has considered including them in the investment plan for the 2021-2025 period.

Leaving Ban village in the late afternoon, its leader La Van Ngọc held my hands and looked towards the nearby forested hills, saying: "After Typhoon Yagi, we are encouraging households with large forest areas to switch some land over to planting timber trees for higher income, and to develop more sustainable forestry. This is also a way to protect the environment and adapt to the unpredictable changes in weather, ensuring that the forests not only help residents grow rich but also protect them from natural disasters."