Currently, Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao has about 130 hectares of agricultural land, including rice land. He uses more than 80 hectares of land to grow sticky rice, the rest he rents out because he can't keep up.
The billionaire who grows sticky rice in Thu Thua land used to be a hired rice cutter.
At this time, along both sides of Provincial Road 817, the sticky rice has been harvested by farmers in Thu Dau Mot. The sticky rice that has not been harvested yet has turned yellow and spreads a fragrant aroma.
Long An sticky rice has long been famous for its aroma, stickiness, and deliciousness. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thu Thua district said that farmers in the district mainly sow two sticky rice varieties: OM84 and IR 4625.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Long An province, the annual area of glutinous rice cultivation in the province accounts for 30-32% of the rice cultivation area (about 65,000 hectares). In recent years, Long An sticky rice specialties have been mainly exported to the Chinese market.
Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao sat down and received us quite warmly. Partly it was his nature, partly because of the attraction from the title Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 that came so unexpectedly.
Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao, Long Thuan Commune, Thu Thua District (Long An Province) visits a rice field, including an area of sticky rice. Photo: T.D
The story had just ended when Mr. Tao picked us up in his car and took us to see the 50-hectare rice field that he bought more than 30 years ago. In fact, in this rice field, Mr. Tao only grows sticky rice on 30 hectares, and on the remaining land he grows yellow apricot, a crop that has attracted many farmers in Thu Dau Mot to invest in over the years due to its high profits.
Mr. Tao confided that he has the career he has today and became an Excellent Vietnamese Farmer 2024 from nothing, especially from being a hired rice cutter.
Mr. Tao said that his stay here was a coincidence when his family went to the new economic zone to reclaim Dong Thap Muoi. When he came here, the government granted his family a 2.5 hectare plot of land.
Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao checks glutinous rice grains in the field. Photo: T.D
Every morning at 2am, Mr. Tao struggled in the bitter cold to row his boat into the field to work the land. When he arrived at the field at 5am, he jumped into the water to pull out water spinach, grass and cajuput roots. And so, Mr. Tao's work of reclaiming the land in Dong Thap Muoi lasted day after day, month after month.
To reclaim the wasteland, Mr. Tao had to go cut rice for hire in far away fields to earn some rice to support his family.
One time, Mr. Tao went to Moc Hoa district to harvest rice for hire and was paid 38 bushels of rice. After the harvest, Mr. Tao brought it home and put it in a granary (a rice storage device) to save. When the price of rice increased, he sold the 38 bushels of rice to get money to buy 3 taels of gold. Seeing that people who had gone to the new economic zone were asking to sell their land, he used the 3 taels of gold to buy 3 plots of land. The next time, he went to harvest rice for hire again and bought 2 more plots of land...
Thanks to Thu's sticky rice, Mr. Truong Cong Tao became an Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer of 2024. Photo: T.D
Later, when the State allowed the conversion of the land grant decision to a land use right certificate (land use rights), to buy more land, Mr. Tao used the land use right certificate to borrow money from the State.
“My method of paying off the State loan is to farm, sell rice, and then get the interest to pay back. So, I bought land using the State’s capital leverage. The last plot of land I stopped buying using this method was the 50th plot,” said Truong Cong Tao, an excellent Vietnamese farmer in 2024.
Later, Mr. Tao's land was increased due to profits from production and business. Now, Mr. Tao's total rice field area is about 130 hectares scattered in Thu Thua, Tan Thanh, Duc Hue, Thanh Hoa districts. Each rice field of Mr. Tao is from 5 hectares to several dozen hectares.
However, the larger the area of land for production, the more effort Mr. Tao has to put into improving the land. Without any supporting production tools, Mr. Tao mainly uses his two hands to "turn the alum soil into rice".
Golden season on the land of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao. Photo: T.D
"As long as I'm not poor, no matter how hard it is, I can do it," Mr. Tao affirmed.
Until the State allowed the import of agricultural machines, "graveyard" machines appeared in Vietnam, the period of mechanization of fields began, Mr. Tao was able to escape the situation of "replacing buffaloes to plow the fields". To continue the work of reclaiming land for farming, Mr. Tao rented plows, tillers, weeders...
“I no longer weed by hand, but rent a weeding machine and sow rice seeds. At the same time, the State opened a canal to discharge alum, the land was increasingly improved to become more fertile, rice cultivation was more productive… my farming work also prospered”, Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao smiled.
Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer Hour 2024 Truong Cong Tao grows sticky rice "as happily as a fairy". All of his sticky rice growing steps are mechanized, such as using laser beams to level the field, using cluster spreaders, rice transplanters, drones to spray fertilizers and pesticides, cutting rice with a combine harvester, transporting rice with a vehicle...
Clip: Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao, Long Thuan commune, Thu Thua district (Long An province) shares the difficulties in growing rice, including growing Thu Thua specialty sticky rice before becoming successful. Clip: T.D
Outstanding Vietnamese farmers of 2024 use the "secret" of growing sticky rice to get rich
We went from one rice field to another of Mr. Tao's to see the rice ripening and bowing its head. The rice grains were all in neat rows. According to Mr. Tao, this was because the rice fields had to be leveled with a laser beam right before sowing the seeds.
“In recent years, the price of sticky rice has been quite good. This summer-autumn crop, the price of sticky rice is 8,000 VND/kg, with a high yield of 7-8 tons/ha, sticky rice growers have won big,” Mr. Tao shared.
Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao confided that every year he earns more than 10 billion VND from growing sticky rice. What helps Mr. Tao earn such a "huge" profit?
Mr. Tao confided that for a long time he has been growing sticky rice in a way that minimizes input costs to increase profits. Accordingly, in the first 40 days of sowing, Mr. Tao almost did not spend a penny on pesticides to prevent brown planthoppers and leaf rollers.
According to Mr. Tao, to protect the fields from brown planthoppers, after spreading the first batch of fertilizer, 3 days after the rice plants absorb the fertilizer, he drains the water in the fields, drying the surface of the fields.
“When the planthoppers enter the light, they lay eggs and develop a few days later. When they land in fields with water, they will grow strongly due to the living environment. But if they land in dry fields, they will leave. Spreading fertilizer in the second and third batches like this will greatly limit the damage of brown planthoppers to rice fields,” Mr. Tao asserted.
The road has a contribution of support from Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao for the local government to implement. Photo: T.D
To limit leaf rollers, farmers should spread fertilizer in the fields several times. Instead of spreading fertilizer 3 times in a cycle, they should spread fertilizer 4-5 times. According to Mr. Tao, rice plants that eat just enough fertilizer will turn lemon yellow and when rice is lemon yellow, leaf rollers cannot attack.
“If we do these methods, investment capital will be limited and farmers will increase their profits from rice cultivation. I am using this method of rice cultivation and it is successful,” said Truong Cong Tao, Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024.
In addition to growing sticky rice for sale, Mr. Tao also produces sticky rice seeds, dries rice, sells rice, and sells agricultural materials. From these jobs, he earns more than 10 billion VND each year, with a profit of 5-6 billion VND.
Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao: Enjoys social work
The day we met, Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer 2024 Truong Cong Tao "boasted" that he had just sent 10 million to the Vietnam Fatherland Front to support people in the North affected by natural disasters caused by storm Yagi.
Mr. Tao was also the first person to implement the idea of “lighting up the countryside” by supporting the Long Thuan commune government to install lighting systems on some roads in the area. At the same time, he participated in the “lighting up the countryside” movement in some neighboring communes. Recently, Mr. Tao supported 100 million VND to build Kenh Bay Bridge and Tan Long Bridge.
In addition, Mr. Tao also contributes to local funds of nearly 30 million/year. Supports poor, near-poor, and disadvantaged households in the locality with more than 50 million/year... Creates regular jobs for 40 workers with an income of 25 million/person/month.
Chairman of the Farmers’ Association of Long Thuan Commune, Nguyen Huu Truc, assessed that Mr. Tao is a person who knows how to seize opportunities and has good economic ability. Every year, he enthusiastically supports local movements from infrastructure construction, new rural areas to social security...
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