The longest artificial border canal in Vietnam connecting An Giang and Kien Giang is over 200 years old.

With a length of over 90km, starting from Chau Doc City, An Giang Province to Ha Tien City, Kien Giang Province, Vinh Te Canal is the longest artificial canal in the border area of ​​Vietnam. This is also an ancient artificial canal that has been around for over 200 years.

Over the past 200 years, Vinh Te Canal has brought many benefits; especially in the socio -economic development of the Mekong Delta region, playing an important role in reclaiming the rice granary of the West.

According to some researchers, the Vinh Te canal (dug in 1819) played an important role in the exploitation of the Long Xuyen Quadrangle.

In 1988, Vinh Te canal became the mother canal combined with canals T4, T5, T6 and some other canals to create a dense irrigation network bringing fresh water from Hau River deep into the Long Xuyen Quadrangle; providing stable irrigation water, washing away alum, leading alluvium, increasing soil fertility, improving farming conditions, making rice grow well and yield high yields.

Vinh Te Canal provides irrigation water for about 144,000 hectares out of a total of nearly 400,000 hectares of agricultural land, thereby helping farmers to grow 1 to 3 rice crops per year...

Thanks to Vinh Te canal, Long Xuyen Quadrangle has transformed from a barren, heavily acidic area into a fertile area, a key food production area of ​​the Mekong Delta and the whole country; with a rice growing area of ​​350,000-400,000 hectares, the total output reaches about 5-6 million tons/year (accounting for about 25% of the output of the entire Mekong Delta).

Fertile fields along Vinh Te canal. Photo: HC

In November 2024, An Giang province held a ceremony to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the completion of Vinh Te Canal (1824 - 2024) and received a certificate establishing the Vietnamese record "The longest manual canal in the border area in Vietnam".

Mr. Le Thanh Long - Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 (in Tan Hoa hamlet, Tan Loi commune, Tinh Bien town, An Giang province), with 600 hectares of rice fields, said: This land used to be a wasteland, heavily acidic and could not be grown.

When the Dong Thap Muoi agricultural system research project initiated by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet was implemented, within only 3 years (from 1997 to 1999), the 3 canals T4, T5, T6 were completed, connecting from Vinh Te canal across the Long Xuyen Quadrangle, through 2 provinces An Giang and Kien Giang, flowing straight into the West Sea.

Since then, my land area has been transformed. The fields have been drained of acid, washed of alum, and drained of floodwaters… and fresh water and alluvium have begun to flow into the fields. Since then, the rice yield of me and the people in this area has increased through each crop season, currently reaching over 6-8 tons/ha/crop."

According to Mr. Le Hong Quang - Secretary of An Giang Provincial Party Committee, Vinh Te Canal is a great historical project in the Mekong Delta in the early 19th century, the pride of the Nguyen Dynasty, and is listed in Cao Dinh in Hue.

Over the past two centuries, Vinh Te Canal has always played a particularly important role in many aspects. First of all, it is a vital traffic route, connecting regions, creating favorable conditions for the transportation of goods; bringing many benefits to the residents of the region; providing fresh water and alluvium to cultivate the fields of An Giang, the entire Long Xuyen Quadrangle and the entire area bordering Cambodia.

In particular, Vinh Te canal also acts as a solid natural defense line to protect the southwestern border of the Fatherland.

Today, besides its important role in irrigation and providing water for agricultural production, Vinh Te canal is also a vital waterway, connecting regions, creating favorable conditions for transporting goods and cultural exchange.

Vinh Te Canal section passing through Kien Giang province today. Photo: Phuong Vu

Decision 1369 dated November 15, 2023 of the Prime Minister approving the planning of An Giang province for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, identified Vinh Te canal as located on the border corridor from Long An province to Kien Giang province, with the policy of developing border gate economy associated with ensuring national defense and security.

This canal creates an economic corridor connecting international border gates such as Tinh Bien, Vinh Xuong (An Giang) with Ha Tien seaport (Kien Giang).

Thereby, strongly promoting the development of border trade, creating conditions for the import and export of goods and agricultural products quickly and economically.

In recent times, to effectively exploit Vinh Te canal, An Giang and Kien Giang provinces have repeatedly renovated and upgraded Vinh Te canal to ensure the flow of goods and serve agricultural production.

An Giang province has built Tha La and Tra Su freshwater reservoirs along Vinh Te canal, linked with irrigation to serve production linkage for about 30,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle (including An Giang province, Kien Giang province and Can Tho city); responding to drought and salinity intrusion, helping to increase production efficiency and raise farmers' income.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Long Xuyen Quadrangle is a key area for implementing the 1 million hectares of low-emission high-quality rice project associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta. By 2030, it is expected that 300,000 hectares of high-quality rice will be deployed in this area.

Source: https://danviet.vn/kenh-dao-nhan-tao-doc-bien-gioi-dai-nhat-viet-nam-noi-an-giang-voi-kien-giang-da-hon-200-tuoi-2025012117363398.htm