Carrying 9 hectares of rice fields alone

Mr. Loi monitors each field to apply appropriate techniques.

After several times the appointment had to be postponed, because farmer Ho Van Loi was "wandering" around his family's nearly 9-hectare field to check and take care of the rice, I arrived at Thanh Lam Bo around noon. At this time, I met Mr. Loi, who had just returned from the field.

Mr. Loi said: This year's summer-autumn crop was unfinished. The rice was only 15-20 days old, but encountered several heavy rains and floods, and was completely submerged and died, so we had to sow it a second time. I produce on a large scale, so the "age" of the rice is different, depending on each field. There are rice fields that are about to form ears, and many fields are still in the fertilization stage, so we have to closely monitor and check to promptly apply appropriate measures and techniques to care for each rice field, helping the rice grow healthily and yield high yields.

Holding a towel for her husband to wipe the sweat from his face, Mrs. Le Thi Xoa, Mr. Loi's wife, smiled and said: "In the house, my husband is the only one who takes care of the farming work. Every year, we grow two rice crops, from the beginning of the crop until the harvest is finished, every day he is busy with the fields; most of the time he is in the fields. During peak periods, my husband wakes up at 2am to go to the fields. During the hot noon, he only comes home to eat, rest a bit, then goes back to the fields until about 8pm when he returns home. Running back and forth with 9 hectares of rice fields, every day he spends more than 50 thousand VND on gasoline."

Mr. Loi said that decades ago, when he first started his business, like many other farmers in the area, he had to carry a basket and spread fertilizer by hand for the rice. Now that he has bought a machine, farmers still have to wade through the mud, go to each row, carrying a tank weighing 4-5 dozen kilograms on their backs, which is very hard work. “Using drone services to spread fertilizer and spray pesticides is much faster and less difficult, but there may be unevenness like manual spraying and the rental price is more expensive. I choose to take the work as profit, I have worked hard for decades, I am used to it” - Mr. Loi smiled simply.

By being frugal, diligent, working day and night in the fields, Mr. Loi earned a net profit of about 200 million VND in the winter-spring rice crop; and about 100 million VND in the summer-autumn crop. Over the years, Mr. Loi has invested in large and small tractors, water pumps, and transport vehicles, with a total cost of nearly 1 billion VND to serve his family's farming work, plowing, pumping water, and transporting for hire for villagers to increase his income.

Over the past decades, from his rice fields and his hard work, Mr. Loi has been the breadwinner of his family, developing the economy more and more prosperously; building a spacious house with convenient appliances for life, and having enough to eat and save. According to Mr. Ho Van Loi and his wife, their most valuable "asset" is their 6 children who have been raised to be good people, have graduated from university and have stable jobs.

Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, Vice Chairman of the "Good Farmers and Businessmen" Club of Phu Vang Commune, said that in addition to developing the family economy, Mr. Loi also creates jobs for many workers in the area. As a farmer with "seniority" in good production, Mr. Loi is also willing to support and share experiences with club members and farmers in the village and commune. "In the hearts of Thanh Lam Bo people, Mr. Loi is a "farmer champion", a role model for people in the area to work hard in production", said Mr. Nguyen Van Toan.

Article and photos: Quynh Anh

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/kinh-te/nong-nghiep-nong-thon/mot-minh-ganh-9-ha-ruong-155767.html