Through his pioneering, exemplary spirit and practical deeds, Party Cell Secretary Vàng A Dia fostered trust, encouraging Party members and a multitude of citizens to boldly emulate him.

After the first harvest batch from the coffee area yielding its initial fruits, Vàng A Dia’s family collected 1 ton of cherries. With an average selling price of VND 15,000/kg right in the village, his family earned VND 15 million. From now until the end of the season, two more harvest batches are expected. Thus, 1ha of coffee in its first yielding season could bring his family nearly VND 50 million. The revenue is not massive, but it is a precious achievement after more than two years of self-studying the crop variety and the planting and care techniques for a new crop. For the households that joined Dia in bringing coffee to the swiddens, the results of the first harvest strengthened their trust in the crop restructuring orientation.

Dia shared: My family only had an initial harvest; we must continue tending and monitoring its efficiency in subsequent years. But having fruit and earning money from selling coffee makes the villagers feel more secure. If I want to mobilize everyone to participate in planting, my own orchard must be well-cared-for first.

Huổi Sông village was established in 2000 and currently houses 77 households with 395 individuals, all belonging to the Hmông ethnic group. Residents primarily cultivate upland rice, corn, and cassava; life is difficult because agricultural production depends on nature, and isolated, arduous transportation means locally produced agricultural goods are sold dirt cheap, leaving Huổi Sông residents trapped in poverty. In Huổi Sông, finding a crop suited to the climate and soil has always been the aspiration of many households.

Born and raised in Huổi Sông, Vàng A Dia deeply understands the hardships and struggles of the people here. Therefore, when his parents provided him the conditions to study, he always strived, harboring the dream of learning to find a new path for the future. Upon completing high school, he attended Hanoi University of Civil Engineering under a nomination-based admission program. During more than 4 years of studying and working part-time in the capital, he always harbored the intent to return and contribute to building his homeland.

Graduating from university with an engineering degree, Dia returned to his locality, working as a part-time cadre in Tìa Dình commune. In 2020, he was elected by Party members in the cell as Secretary of the village Party Cell. A year later, he was further entrusted by residents and elected Head of Huổi Sông village. Wanting to dedicate more time to common affairs and concurrently find a new production development path for villagers, in 2022, he decided to resign from his commune post to concentrate on village duties and research crops suited to local conditions.

Understanding the villagers’ desire for a new crop with high economic value to progressively improve their lives, Dia proactively traveled to neighboring communes in Son La province to learn how to select seedlings and master planting and care techniques for coffee trees. Seeing the honest, hardworking young man who genuinely wanted to find a new production path for his villagers, several families in Son La enthusiastically welcomed him into their homes, dedicatedly teaching him how to identify good seedlings by their roots or observe leaf colors to detect plant diseases. After several trips, Dia decided to “pour” all his accumulated savings into buying 2,000 seedlings to plant on approximately 5,000m² of his family’s swidden land. “I planted the coffee trees in June 2024. That was also the first time the swidden land of Huổi Sông villagers featured a new crop replacing cassava and upland rice. The heartening part is that the villagers supported me tremendously. When they saw me digging holes to plant, they helped out a lot. So, in just a short time, I finished planting 2,000 coffee trees, catching the early-season rains for the trees to take root and grow lushly,” Vàng A Dia recalled.

Following the first planting season, Dia continued saving money to travel to Son La and order seedlings for the next season. Before departing to buy seedlings, he informed his relatives and village households, remaining ready to answer concerns and provide technical guidance to families wishing to plant coffee but lacking experience or facing capital constraints.

As time passed, Dia’s coffee swidden planted in 2024 grew and developed well. By 2026, his family had over 2.5ha planted with coffee, nearly 1ha of which was yielding its first fruits. Looking at Dia’s family coffee orchard, the residents of Huổi Sông village grew even more confident in bumper coffee crops, as the results were proven right on the coffee swiddens.

Guided and supported by Dia, by the end of the new planting season in 2026, Huổi Sông village boasted over 40ha of coffee where residents self-purchased seedlings and organized planting. Out of the 77 households in Huổi Sông village, 50 households participated in planting coffee.

From pioneering the introduction of coffee to the swiddens, to actively communicating, mobilizing, and supporting villagers with seedlings and planting and care techniques, Dia clearly manifested the spirit of “words matching deeds” of a Party member, contributing to building a developed homeland.

Commending the exemplary spirit of Party Cell Secretary Vàng A Dia, Bùi Xuân Thức, Chairman of the Tìa Dình commune People’s Committee, shared: Dia is a typical exemplar of practicing Hồ Chí Minh’s ideology, ethics, and style in the commune. Starting from a consciousness of self-improvement and a sense of responsibility toward the lives of Huổi Sông villagers, Dia succeeded in bringing a new crop to the locality, progressively forming a concentrated planting zone. “What is precious is that the crop Dia chose, and the way he communicated and mobilized Huổi Sông villagers to expand the acreage, perfectly align with the province’s and commune’s policy of restructuring crops and steering Điện Biên’s agriculture toward green, smart, and sustainable development.

Based on Dia’s example, Tìa Dình finds it very favorable to communicate and mobilize citizens to expand the newly planted area of coffee and macadamia. Huổi Sông village alone was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee for its achievements in newly planting coffee in 2026, becoming the commune’s exemplar in pioneering the planting of this very new crop,” added Chairman Bùi Xuân Thức.