Golden season of the Southwest

The Mekong Delta is a region with a hot and humid subtropical climate, rich soil, dense river system, abundant fresh water, large and flat cultivated areas... so it is very suitable for intensive rice cultivation. Coming to the Southwest region in the rice harvest season, you will be surprised and overwhelmed by the picturesque scenery here. The golden fields with tired storks flying in the sparkling sunlight. The waves of rice rustle and sway in the immense wind, playing happily. White fluffy clouds spread in clusters floating in the vast blue sky. The gentle river is bustling with the sound of oars splashing and the waves...

The Mekong Delta is considered the largest rice granary in Vietnam, accounting for nearly 60% of rice production and more than 90% of rice exports nationwide. The rice fields of the Southwest stretch across 13 provinces and cities including: Can Tho, An Giang, Dong Thap, Long An, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Hau Giang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang. People in the Southwest grow rice mainly by sowing and transplanting with two main crops: the winter-spring crop and the autumn-winter crop.

The summer-autumn crop usually starts from May to June and is harvested at the end of the rainy season, around November. The winter-spring crop starts when the summer-autumn crop ends, around late November to early December, and is harvested in early April. There is also a third crop (summer-autumn crop) that starts sowing from early April and is harvested in August with a smaller rice area than the two crops above.

In the past, when the rice was ripe, farmers would bring their tools to the fields to harvest the rice by hand. Because they harvested by hand, they had to leave early in the morning so that when the sun was hot, the farming work would be finished. In small-scale rice harvesting, people in the Southwest still used sickles to cut rice in small fields or cut sickles when the rice fell over.

However, many places have switched to using gasoline-powered handheld rice cutters, which are convenient and productive. In the manual grain picking stage, people will hold the rice bundle and hit it against a bamboo ladder so that the rice grains fall into the bin. The bin is tall and has a mesh around it to prevent the rice grains from flying out.

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If harvested too late, the golden rice that stays in the field for a long time is easily damaged by insects , birds and mice, the rice plants are easily tilted and the yield is reduced. Usually the whole rice field will not be able to ripen evenly, the rice grains in the first level spike will ripen first while the rice in the second and third level spikes will ripen later.

Therefore, farmers must choose the time when the rice in the entire field reaches the most harmonious maturity, they will harvest at the time one week before the entire rice field is fully ripe. This way, there will be at least 85% of good rice grains that meet the standards.

People in the Southwest region are very experienced in determining harvest time to maximize the quantity and quality of rice.

After this stage , farmers must also dry the rice in the sun to prevent mold. They rake the rice in the yard and spread straw outside. Every yard is golden with the color of rice, and every road and canal bank is covered with a carpet of straw.

But today, there are no longer many scenes of farmers burning straw like in the past. Instead, there is a straw rolling machine that runs diligently and leisurely. After being rolled into long rolls, the straw will be loaded onto boats to go to places where they can be used usefully, used as organic fertilizer or to grow straw mushrooms that grow very quickly.