These grains of rice bear the mark of our homeland.

Main character: Le Thi Mai Huyen

Not the "mother" of rice, nor the "capital" of delicious rice, but for over a year now, Vietnamese Golden Rice products have been building a special brand that is widely known. With the area of ​​land used for rice cultivation expanding, farmers are becoming more prosperous on their own land.

I've known her for a long time, someone who always shows great concern for poor, studious students and those facing hardship in the province. Yet, each meeting brings something new from her. During this meeting, she shared her recent success in bringing delicious rice varieties like Mat Rong, ST25 En Vang, Thom Hanh Phuc, Huong Ngoc, Loc Viet... grown in Tay Ninh to the Vietnam International Rice Festival, themed “Green Rice, For Life,” organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in mid-December 2023 in Vi Thanh City (Hau Giang province), which brought together over 500 booths from 37 countries and territories. She enthusiastically shared that Tay Ninh's delicious rice products were highly praised by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and international visitors, especially the value of organic rice grown in this border region.

She is Le Thi Mai Huyen, General Director of Duc Thanh Co., Ltd., who places her faith in building a brand of delicious rice for Tay Ninh province - Lua Vang Viet rice - with the dream of expanding internationally and competing with major companies in the Vietnamese rice industry.

Catalyst

In the final days of the year, the vast rice fields are ripening, each grain heavy with golden, fragrant rice glistening in the sun. Over 2,000 hectares of clean, organic rice are ready for harvest. Besides her work at the company, Ms. Huyen has to arrange to go to the fields with farmers, discuss with cooperative groups about purchasing and transporting the rice to the factory, and plan for planting the next crop. Large-scale model rice fields are spread across Chau Thanh, Ben Cau, Go Dau districts and Trang Bang town; there isn't a place she hasn't visited.

“This year’s rice harvest is a huge success. Our farmers will have a big Tet celebration!” Huyen’s clear voice, mingled with her cheerful laughter, explained that Tay Ninh has traditionally been known for cassava, sugarcane, and rubber. While rice cultivation occupies a large area compared to other crops, approximately 150,000 hectares, it is concentrated in only a few regions. Farmers don’t know who to sell their rice to besides traders, and being forced to accept low prices is a sad reality. To enjoy good quality rice, people have to source it from the Mekong Delta, mainly by waterway. The long and arduous transportation process also contributes to a decrease in the quality and quantity of the rice grains.

The long-term strategy for rice cultivation and the best interests of farmers in the province begins here. In 2018, she placed her faith in the path of producing clean, organic rice, forming a supply chain that guarantees inputs and outputs for farmers, even knowing that there would be many difficulties on the journey to building a brand for the province's rice.

“The time when people just wanted to ‘eat until they were full’ is over, now it’s about ‘eating well.’ I’m the same, not just ensuring nutrition, but nutrition tailored to individual needs,” she said, explaining that her parents have a tradition of producing and trading rice, fertilizers, and agricultural supplies for over 33 years. Inheriting the family business, she and her husband established their own enterprise, and with their surplus, they do charity work and support the poor. Since 2001, Duc Thanh Company has implemented many social work programs throughout the province, such as building houses, donating breeding cows, and providing production capital support to the poor.

On every holiday or when doing something beneficial, she always thinks of the poor, of farmers with muddy hands and feet, and of children in remote rural areas who lack the means to go to school. In 2012, she and her husband collaborated with Tay Ninh Newspaper to establish the "Supporting Students to School" fund, annually donating over 1 billion VND to support disadvantaged students so they can continue their education.

Thanks to these linkages, many farming households receive technical guidance, rice seeds, and guaranteed markets for their produce.

During a trip to the countryside for charity work, I witnessed firsthand many orchards and vegetable gardens being cut down due to extremely low prices, with inconsistent yields, and tons of ripe rice lying in the fields waiting to be bought by traders.

Farmers face precarious incomes and mounting debts, while consumers in urban markets have to pay double or triple the price for their produce. Thinking long-term, she and her husband came up with the idea of ​​establishing a fruit juice factory, aiming to purchase and guarantee the sale of agricultural products from farmers, preventing price manipulation by traders and ensuring a stable income.

But when the Tanifoood fruit juice factory was established, this idea stalled. So they shifted their focus to building a rice processing plant. They faced considerable criticism from senior figures in the rice production industry, but she realized that "the fundamental principle is to do things differently," as long as it benefits the farmers.

"With a harmonious husband and wife, even the East Sea can be emptied," she read more materials on organic farming and researched agricultural management to better understand the values ​​it brings not only to herself and her family but also to society. She decided to choose the path of organic farming for rice, creating a linked chain from planting and harvesting to processing and distributing rice right in her hometown.

She meticulously planned the transformation of her hometown's rice industry. In 2018, she established Golden Rice Vietnam Company, a member of Duc Thanh Limited Company. The Golden Rice Vietnam rice mill is the largest in Tay Ninh province, with a capacity of 44,000 tons of finished white rice per year, bringing hope for sustainable wealth creation for farmers.

To allow the people of Tay Ninh to enjoy delicious rice that they produce themselves.

It also took more than two years for the clean, organic rice growing area to be established. "Farmers must adapt to the increasing market trend of consuming delicious, high-quality rice in order to achieve sustainable wealth," Ms. Huyen confided.

Initially, convincing farmers to switch to organic rice farming was extremely difficult. This was compounded by the challenge of "penetrating" the rice market, where newcomers had to compete with many experienced traders. As the saying goes, "the beginning is always the hardest," so she went to each farmer individually, boldly encouraging various cooperatives to participate in the supply chain for inputs and outputs, so that farmers could confidently transition to organic production.

In particular, organic products are always guaranteed to be more profitable than conventionally produced products. Given the changes in the quality and value of organic rice, hundreds of hectares of rice paddies have become less compacted, the soil has become much more porous, and gradually farmers have accepted the conversion and adopted it.

In May 2022, the Duc Thanh - Lua Vang Viet cooperative was established. With the support of provincial leaders, the agricultural sector, and local authorities, the sustainable supply chain, from scientific farming techniques to guaranteed output, has yielded higher-than-expected productivity. More than 586 farming households cultivating over 2,000 hectares of large-scale model fields have received support, averaging over 3 million VND per hectare.

“While working, I saw a bright picture of agriculture. Besides producing rice, farmers also get to ‘enjoy’ the rice they produce, and that’s true happiness,” Ms. Huyen further expressed. She noted that traditionally, many farming households, when growing fruit trees or rice, would reserve a “plot” or a few plants in their garden for their own safe use, which is regrettable because others are still using inferior products. She believes that if the people of Tay Ninh accept and use Tay Ninh rice as a daily habit, the Tay Ninh rice brand will naturally spread to other provinces and cities, becoming increasingly well-known.

Currently, delicious Tay Ninh rice is distributed by Lua Vang Viet Company to stores in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, etc. From 2021 to the present, Lua Vang Viet has supplied more than 10,000 tons of various types of rice to the market, including more than 200 tons of ST25 En Vang rice. The company has also exported more than 50 tons of rice to South Africa, creating motivation for her to place hope and confidence in subsequent orders, quickly penetrating the markets of China, the Philippines, and others.

“Achieving such results is the culmination of the company's collective efforts. Although it's not a huge amount, it's enough to make us happy,” Ms. Huyen proudly shared. In 2023, many large distributors came to the company to register to open rice stores with Lua Vang Viet, including rice distributors from the Mekong Delta. Furthermore, the retail sales of high-quality rice, especially ST25, OM5451, and OM18 varieties, exceeded the targets she had set for the provincial market. After each harvest, the cooperatives also set aside a portion to share with other farmers or buy directly from the factory at a lower price.

Enhancing local values

Located west of Trang Bang town, surrounded by the Vam Co Dong river system, Phuoc Chi commune has 3,900 hectares of rice land, with over 70% of its population earning their living from rice cultivation. It is also one of the areas specializing in organic rice production, a key factor in the sustainable development of the province's rice industry.

Recognizing the potential, in 2020, Ms. Huyen partnered with Phuoc Hoa Agricultural Service Cooperative in Phuoc Binh to develop a large-scale model rice field. Over 430 hectares of various rice varieties were purchased by the Duc Thanh - Lua Vang Viet cooperative, including more than 30 hectares of ST25 rice.

Throughout the three cropping seasons of 2022-2023 (Winter-Spring), 2022-2023 (Summer-Autumn), and 2023 (Maize crop), farmers in Phuoc Chi experienced bumper harvests and good prices, achieving yields of 8-9 tons/ha. Specifically, ST25 rice averaged 6.5-7 tons/ha, resulting in profits 1.5 times higher. This achievement is highly significant, with many farming households voluntarily joining cooperatives, and high-quality, clean, organic rice products gaining market recognition. Even more encouraging is that in 2023, Phuoc Hoa Cooperative's ST25 clean rice product was recognized as a 3-star OCOP product, opening up a sustainable path for the local rice industry.

Tay Ninh possesses many favorable natural conditions, including rivers and the Dau Tieng irrigation system. Thanks to these advantages, the annual rice cultivation area reaches approximately 150,000 hectares. Notably, over 90% of the rice cultivation area has been mechanized from land preparation to harvesting. Currently, key rice varieties from the Mekong Delta such as OM 5451, OM 6976, OM 4900, OM 576, IR 50404, ST24, ST25… are all present in Tay Ninh. Compared to some rice varieties currently grown by farmers, these are high-quality varieties with promising development prospects in the near future.

“I am very grateful to the provincial leaders. Thanks to the encouragement, attention, and support of the local government and those working in the agricultural sector, I have achieved the results I have today. The construction of the Golden Rice Vietnam rice mill is not simply about purchasing farmers' products, but aims to create organic, specialty rice products bearing the mark of our homeland, so that farmers can prosper sustainably,” Ms. Huyen expressed.

Tam Giang

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/nhung-hat-gao-mang-dau-an-que-huong-a169511.html