Beauty of the garden

Nearly 40 years with rice fields

Mr. Nguyen Van Moi (55 years old, residing in Dong Binh Nhat hamlet, Vinh Thanh commune, Chau Thanh district) has been involved with rice since he was 18 years old. Up to now, after 37 years, he is still persistent in his profession, cultivating nearly 9 hectares of rice, of which about 5 hectares are rented land. Each year, he does 3 crops, closely monitoring each stage of development to promptly handle pests, fertilize, and care for the crop.

In recent years, he has applied technical advances, such as: Using drones to spray pesticides, combine harvesters... to help reduce labor. According to him, currently, rice fields are no longer enriched with alluvium as before, making farming difficult, requiring the use of a lot of fertilizer to supplement nutrients for rice plants. Therefore, farmers must learn and update new knowledge to bring high efficiency in farming.

Mr. Moi uses airplanes to fertilize rice.

Mr. Moi confided: “This job is hard, and I can’t bear to give it up. Even though the land is depleted of alluvium, fertilizer is expensive, and rice prices are unstable, I still go to the fields at 5am. I invest about 4 million VND in each hectare of rice, but if the yield is not stable, it’s all in vain. When I was a child, I followed my father to the fields. It was hard but I got used to it. Every time the rice flowers bloomed evenly and golden, I felt happy inside. Even though it’s not as exciting as other jobs, for me, it’s a job that I’ll be attached to for life.”

Multi-talented farmer "both in the field and in the fields"

In Hoa Binh commune (Cho Moi district), Mr. Nguyen Trong Phuong (53 years old) is familiar to the people in the area because of his diligence and creativity in farming. His family has 6 hectares of land for growing vegetables and fruit trees, and another 9 hectares of land rented for growing rice. Different from the traditional way, he combines farming vegetables, fruit trees and rice. Vegetables such as green mustard, bok choy, lettuce, cucumber, eggplant, and spinach are grown all year round.

In addition to proactively adjusting crops according to market demand, he also installed an automatic irrigation system that helps reduce labor while still ensuring irrigation efficiency. Although he did not invest in greenhouses due to high costs, he still researched and improved. In addition, he took advantage of knowledge from vegetable growing to apply to rice fields, creating an effective mutually supportive farming chain.

Mr. Phuong said: “When I was young, I followed my father to the fields, and I got used to it. Every day, I went to the fields from dawn, sometimes I had to work until late at night to deliver vegetables to customers. I did small quantities, mostly taking care of them myself, so I didn’t spend much money, but it was hard. Each type of plant had its own way of being cared for, and the rain and sun were unpredictable, so I had to keep up. This job requires hard work, learning from others and learning from practical experience. When I encountered a crop with a disease, I handled it well, so I later applied it to rice. I see that farming nowadays does not only depend on strength, but also knowledge to survive. Therefore, if anyone is attached to it, they will love it very much and cannot give it up.”

Although modern life has more choices, there are still farmers like Mr. Moi and Mr. Phuong who are quietly attached to their fields and gardens. They understand the land, love plants, find work as a joy, and exchange their hardship for each full meal for their family and society. Besides them, there are many farmers who are contributing to maintaining Vietnamese agriculture in the new era.

What is needed now is to inspire confidence in farming, while supporting people to access technology and have stable output for sustainable agricultural development. Farming is not outdated, as long as it is fueled by knowledge, innovation and passion, then whether it is hot sun or pouring rain, Vietnamese farmers will always be a beautiful and humane image.

NGUYEN XE

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/net-dep-nha-vuon-a420046.html