Recently, the Farmers’ Union at all levels in Điện Biên province has synchronously implemented many solutions to promote the subject role of farmers, arousing the spirit of proactiveness and creativity in labor and production, contributing to promoting agricultural development in a green and sustainable direction.

One of the key solutions with strong spillover effects in rural economic development is the movement “Farmers emulate good production and business, unite to help each other get rich and reduce poverty sustainably.” The movement has been focused on by Farmers’ Union at all levels for direction and methodical implementation, attracting a large number of members and farmers to participate, thereby creating an important motivation to promote household economic development and rural economy.

From October 2023 to present, the whole province has had over 7,000 farmer households register to participate in the movement; through review, 3,523 households were recognized as achieving the title of “Good production and business farmers” at all levels. From the movement, many typical members and farmers have risen to get rich legitimately, receiving commendations from the provincial People’s Committee, and being honored and awarded the title “Excellent Vietnamese Farmer” by the Central Vietnam Farmers’ Union. Not stopping at economic efficiency, the movement also spreads the spirit of solidarity and mutual assistance deeply and widely in the rural community. Union levels have mobilized members and farmers, especially good production and business households, to actively participate in restructuring the agricultural sector; building and replicating production linkage models and safe food supply chains; supporting poor and near-poor households with capital, seedlings, breeding animals, and production and business experience, while creating jobs for hundreds of local workers. Thereby, continuing to affirm the subject role of farmers in production development and sustainable poverty reduction.

Parallel with emulation movements, the work of supporting and guiding farmers to transform crop and livestock structures, apply scientific and technical progress, and develop effective production models continues to be paid attention to by Farmers’ Union at all levels. Thereby, farmers step-by-step change farming practices, shifting from fragmented, small-scale production to linkage and specialized cultivation towards improving product quality and added value.

The Farmers’ Union has consulted and supported the construction and development of brands for 19 OCOP products, contributing to raising the total number of OCOP products in the whole province to 138. This is an important foundation to improve the competitiveness of local agricultural products, expand consumption markets, and raise income for farmers. Along with that, Union levels focus on raising awareness about startups, innovation, and digital transformation for officials and farmer members through training courses and thematic seminars. Farmers are mobilized and guided to participate in high-quality rice production; building and replicating green, organic, circular, and high-tech agricultural models associated with experiential tourism development, suitable for local practical conditions.

Along with promoting the subject role of farmers in production, service, consulting, and support activities are synchronously deployed by Farmers’ Union at all levels, creating conditions for farmers to proactively participate in and master the development process. Agricultural product promotion and trade promotion are boosted; members are supported to participate in fairs and exhibitions, step-by-step expanding consumption markets. To date, 2,000 farmer households have been guided to create accounts on e-commerce floors, contributing to product promotion and promoting agricultural consumption in a modern direction.

In the field of agricultural material supply, the Union coordinated with enterprises to implement a guarantee form for supplying over 13,000 tons of fertilizers and animal feed under the deferred payment method with no interest for over 3,000 farmer households, associated with training and technical guidance, helping members boldly invest and expand production scale. At the same time, vocational training and scientific and technical progress transfer continue to be focused on. The Provincial Farmers’ Union coordinated to provide vocational training for 3,611 members; organized 215 training classes transferring science and technology to 44,100 turns of members; and guided nearly 44,700 members to use the Vietnamese Farmers Digital Platform, contributing to improving qualifications, efficiency, and labor productivity in agriculture.

Besides, the provincial Farmers Support Fund was consolidated and operated effectively with a total outstanding debt of nearly VND 27 billion, supporting 573 borrowing households to develop production. The Fund coordinates closely with the Bank for Social Policies to implement policy credit, with a total outstanding debt of over VND 1,443 billion for nearly 21,000 borrowing households. Legal consulting activities are also strengthened through 72 “Farmers with Law” clubs, contributing to raising awareness and consciousness of law observance, maintaining stability in rural areas.

The central role of farmers is also clearly affirmed in the process of participating in the implementation of National Target Programs. In the 2023 - 2025 period, Farmers’ Union at all levels mobilized 68,133 members to contribute over 220,000 workdays, over VND 2 billion, and donate 65,000m² of land to build and repair rural infrastructure. Farmers directly participated in building and repairing 75km of traffic roads; solidifying 500km of canals; repairing, building new, and dredging 580 bridges, sluices, and drainage ditches. Notably, Union levels coordinated to repair and build over 572 Great Unity houses, in which directly supporting the construction of 38 houses for poor farmer members and policy families. Along with infrastructure development, the environmental protection movement in new rural construction is deployed deeply and widely. The provincial Farmers’ Union directly implemented 16 environmental protection models for over 800 households; 91 commune-level union establishments built 131 waste collection models. The whole province has 75,061 households registered for safe food production and business, of which 230 households were recognized. Many models of organic waste treatment at households and biotechnology application in livestock waste treatment have contributed to improving the rural environment, aiming for sustainable agricultural and rural development.

The results achieved in recent times show that when farmers are placed in the right central position, have their subject role promoted, and are created conditions to participate directly in the development process, Điện Biên agriculture and rural areas have seen clear, comprehensive, and sustainable changes. Entering a new development stage, the provincial Farmers’ Union sets the goal: Continue to arouse even more strongly the spirit of proactiveness and creativity of farmers, associating the promotion of the subject role with innovating the content and operational methods of Farmers’ Union at all levels. The focus is on supporting farmers to transform production in a green, circular direction, applying science - technology and digital transformation; promoting linkages along the value chain, developing collective economy, and improving the competitiveness of agricultural products. At the same time, strengthening service, consulting, vocational training, capital support, and product consumption activities, creating conditions for farmers to master the development process.

With the achieved results, along with the companionship of levels, sectors, and the Union organization, continuing to promote the central and subject role of farmers will be an important motivation for Điện Biên to develop sustainable agriculture and a modern rural economy, contributing to the successful implementation of the goal of building new rural areas and socio-economic development of the province in the coming period.

Trần Quý Hùng

Vice Chairman of the provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, Chairman of the provincial Farmers’ Union