Bustling rice harvest at night.

Given the unpredictable weather patterns, the agricultural sector advises people to harvest early to ensure rice quality and minimize damage from natural disasters. Farmers everywhere are taking advantage of the time to harvest.

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At 8 PM in the Thanh Phuoc rice fields, Huong Phong commune, Hue City, elderly farmer Le Sec paced back and forth on the dike, mentally counting the number of sacks of rice unloaded from the trucks. In the fields below, his children and grandchildren worked together, shouting and cheering, to load the rice onto trucks for transport home.

This year, Mr. Sec's family planted 4.5 acres of rice. Because it was harvest season and the harvesting machines were scheduled to work continuously, he accepted harvesting the rice at night. "No one in the family had eaten yet, but when we received the phone call to harvest, we rushed to the field. Having machinery saves us effort and money. We can use the daytime for other work," he said.

One plot of land yields about 50 bags of rice. The Khang Dan variety sells for 7,300 VND/kg. A rough estimate shows the income is higher than last year. Tonight, Mr. Sec's family will focus all their efforts on drying and selling the rice in two days.

About 100 meters from Mr. Sec's rice field, Mr. Phan Huu Tuyen was running back and forth with sacks of water, shining lights for the combine harvester crew. His family cultivates 11 sao (approximately 11,000 square meters), including 7 sao of Khang Dan rice and 4 sao of HT1 fragrant rice. His wife has heart disease, so he single-handedly manages the entire harvest, only hiring one additional worker during peak periods. This year, he's harvesting in a staggered manner, selling the rice as soon as it's harvested. For the past week, he's had to work at night to meet the planting schedule because the neighboring area has already planted a new crop.

Pointing to the ripening rice stalks that were yet to be harvested, he boasted, "These few plots of HT1 rice look quite good. Visually, the yield is much higher than last year. This is the variety I grow for my own consumption. Each year, my family eats nearly a ton of this rice, and I share it with my children and grandchildren who live far away because this variety is delicious, fragrant, and not at all bland. Last year, fertilizer and supplies were expensive, and the harvest was poor. Everyone was happy and smiling during the harvest, both the owner and the workers, even though we worked late into the night. This year, God has made up for it," Mr. Tuyen said with a smile.

Perhaps the busiest are the combine harvester operators. The entire Thanh Phuoc Cooperative has two combine harvesters, operating continuously at a price of 120,000 VND per sao (a unit of land measurement) for its members. Mr. Phan Huu Nghiep, the team leader of the combine harvester team at Thanh Phuoc Agricultural Cooperative, is starting his Friday night shift since the beginning of the harvest season.

The cooperative has two combine harvesters, each operated and maintained by three people. During the harvest season, the machines take turns harvesting according to the members' registration. These days, the men are in the fields from 6 am until midnight. "We work continuously for 15 days and 15 nights like this. The nights are cool, the machines break down less, and we save on fuel. Besides, during harvest season, we have to work at full speed to keep up. If we find a flat field where the rice isn't broken or fallen, we can harvest quickly. But if we encounter a difficult field, harvesting takes longer and the machinery is more likely to break down," Mr. Nghiep explained.

According to Mr. Phan Van Dai, Director of Thanh Phuoc Agricultural Cooperative, the entire area cultivates 65 hectares of various rice varieties. Farmers are closely following the seasonal planting schedule and are taking advantage of the opportunity to mobilize machinery and manpower for harvesting.

"Fresh rice, real money"

The scene of harvesting rice is bustling, but the scene of bagging and weighing it for sale is equally lively and noisy. Along the extended Vo Van Kiet road towards Thuan An, the electric lights shine brightly, and many farmers are eating while gathering and bagging their rice.

Today, Mrs. Hoang Thi Kinh, 67, and her four children from Duong Mong, Phu My, along with her younger siblings and children, spent their days drying, packing, shaking, and holding dozens of sacks of rice from 5 am until 9 pm, waiting for traders to come and buy them. Taking a sip of water to cool down in the early summer heat, she said, "I've lived and breathed rice since I was born, so I've experienced all the hardships and difficulties of farming."

The whole family, engaged in traditional farming, cultivates dozens of acres, and every year, the grandmother harvests rice until late at night. Each harvest, her family packs over a thousand sacks of rice. The women are busy carrying and counting, creating a noisy scene. The men work in the fields, operating the harvesting machines and transporting the rice, often finishing around 11 or midnight. The women help with drying, sorting, and handling wholesale sales. Last year, the crop failed, resulting in losses of tens of millions of dong. This year, her family has only harvested over 1.5 tons of rice, with a yield of approximately 350 kg.

Ms. Dang Thi Trang, Mrs. Kinh's daughter-in-law, works on 5 acres of land with her husband's family. During the harvest season, she takes time off from selling fish to help with the rice harvest. For several evenings, she leaves her child with her grandmother to prepare meals, brings a tarp for her mother-in-law, and helps carry and weigh the rice. The other daughters-in-law in the family also pitch in to help the family. Whatever they harvest, if the price is right, Mrs. Kinh sells it all to traders to save on transportation and storage costs.

When the pile of rice had reached nearly a hundred sacks, Mrs. Kinh finally gave the order to rest while waiting for the truck to weigh it. Mrs. Kinh confided, "Luckily, we have a large family, so everyone has their own tasks. My family is very careful about the weather; we're afraid of losing or damaging the rice. I heard that last year, someone from the Chiết Bi market died of a heart attack while gathering rice in the rain. The saying 'one sun, two dews' is nothing compared to this job. One grain of rice is worth a hundred drops of sweat."

While Mrs. Kinh's family organized a large group of people, Mr. Nguyen Van Dang's family weighed and harvested the rice alone. His family cultivated less than one acre, but sold 1.5 tons of Khang Dan rice. This translates to a yield of 350 kg per sao (approximately 350 kg per 1000 square meters), better than last year. The rice sold for 7,100 VND/kg. Selling it on the same day relieved the worry about fluctuating prices and weather. "Around here, people sell their rice at night because they've already made arrangements with traders. Fresh rice, real money – it feels great," Mr. Dang happily shared.

Ms. Duong Thi Ngoc Tuyet, owner of Binh Tuyet rice milling facility (Phu Ho, Phu Vang), drives back and forth on the road to Thuan An to buy rice. Before dinner, she and her husband and children are busy buying and loading rice onto trucks to take home. This week, her family has been buying rice at night from fields around the area, even as far as Phong Dien. They arrive home around 9-10 PM and continue unloading rice until 1-2 AM. “For the past 10 days, my facility has been buying rice at night. This year the harvest is good, and the prices are good, so the farmers are happy and I'm happy too. I start driving at 5 PM and have bought rice from dozens of households from afternoon until evening. I only come home to eat dinner after finishing work because I have to make the most of my time for the farmers so they don't have to wait,” Ms. Tuyet said.

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