Tuan 'rice farmer' and his journey to become 'billionaire Tuan' on a 500 hectare field

The fields in Lung Lon hamlet, Kien Binh commune used to be a low-lying area, everyone was afraid to cultivate, so the number of old-timers in this area could be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, in this land famous for being very difficult to do business, there is a very different establishment. Not only is it a house with high walls, but this establishment also has a mechanical workshop, an agricultural supplies warehouse, a rice warehouse, and a place for workers to live and eat. That is the farm of Tuan "two rice".

Get rich on poor land

Mr. Tuan's house is located at the beginning of K15 canal, adjacent to T5 canal (Vo Van Kiet canal). In addition to the nickname Tuan "two rice farmers", many people also call him Tuan "billionaire". Because along with a spacious house, he is also a big farmer, owning a 500-hectare rice field. Every time he visits the field, he has to drive around.

Mr. Tuan constantly modernizes his 500-hectare field. PHOTO: THANH DUY

Mr. Tuan's large field is divided into many small squares like a chessboard. There are areas that are ready to be sown, areas with young green rice seedlings, and areas with rice that have already blossomed. One afternoon, there were nearly 20 workers spraying pesticides, fertilizing, weeding rice, and driving tractors and tillers. Despite having enough to eat and save, Mr. Tuan is still simple, true to the Western farmer's style. He respectfully calls rice grains pearls, because to make them grow heavy in the low-lying, alum-laden soil, he had to shed so much sweat and tears.

Mr. Tuan's family is originally from An Giang. When the new economic zone of Long Xuyen Quadrangle opened, his whole family moved to Lung Lon hamlet to make a living. After a period of working as a forestry farm, in 1999, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son (Mr. Tuan's father) was assigned 700 hectares of land by the State. Wherever he renovated, he and his son planted trees according to the province's raw material planning.

Mr. Tuan next to a drone. PHOTO: THANH DUY

At that time, Mr. Tuan was over 20 years old, so he clearly remembered: "At that time, the T5 canal had just been dug a few years ago, so the acidity and alum had not been washed away much. When the tide receded, the alum along the riverbank was as yellow as turmeric. The land was barren and barren, and there were also mounds, hills, and sand. Cultivation was very difficult, growing cassava was stunted, growing sugarcane had low sugar reserves, pineapples did not produce fruit, and growing cassava produced nothing but fiber."

Whatever he planted had low productivity, so he had to use capital to cover losses, so a few years later, Mr. Tuan's family returned 200 hectares to the State. The rest, he and his father "risked" converting to rice cultivation. Remembering the old saying "first water, second fertilizer", Mr. Tuan prioritized hiring workers to dig a system of canals like blood vessels to remove alum and carry alluvium. Each plot of land was "diagnosed" to fertilize, spreading more or less lime powder to balance nutrition.

Cultivating on a 500-hectare field, Mr. Tuan creates jobs for many local workers. PHOTO: THANH DUY

After the land was renovated, Mr. Tuan did not plant rice immediately but "bathed the soil" for a long time. The main thing was to soften the alum and reduce the salinity to within the threshold so that he could safely plant rice. "At that time, agriculture was still backward and there was no testing equipment. My father and I used to hold water from the fields in our mouths to feel the salinity. This method was accurate, so there was little rice left but a lot of grass and sedge grew. We went to pull the grass and our limbs got sores," Mr. Tuan recalled.

"Domino" style farming

He had a lot of land but had to measure it out every day, many people at that time left to work elsewhere. Mr. Tuan was still determined, finding a way to stay on Lung Lon field. Then the land did not disappoint him, around 2006, the rice plants also "yielded pearls" steadily as the farmers expected. When the salinity was controlled, Mr. Tuan planted many rice varieties such as IR50404, OM576, with a yield of 4 - 5 tons/ha, but the profit was not significant.

A corner of Mr. Tuan's 500-hectare field. PHOTO: THANH DUY

To optimize productivity, in 2012, Mr. Tuan switched to growing sticky rice, but then suffered a miserable loss. After that, he boldly grew organic rice ST24, ST25, but continued to fail bitterly. Mr. Tuan learned from experience: "In one year, I do 3 crops, cultivating simultaneously so I have to hire workers to harvest at the same time. Even when the price is at rock bottom, I still have to sell. The reason for the loss is that I am passive, because there is no way to store the amount of rice for 500 hectares."

Worried about this, Mr. Tuan decided to change the traditional way of farming to modern large-scale fields in accordance with the State's policy. The first thing was to mechanize, spending billions to buy 2 unmanned aircraft.   (drones), 2 combine harvesters and 4 plows and tillers. In addition, he has invested heavily in building a rice warehouse with a capacity of about 200 tons and a drying oven with a capacity of 80 tons of rice per day. Corresponding to this scale, he hires about 80 local workers to participate in the production stages.

Mr. Tuan is one of the most outstanding farmers in the country. PHOTO: THANH DUY

However, mechanization is the necessary condition, the factor that makes Mr. Tuan's successful turning point is the innovation in production thinking. From 3 crops to 2 crops to restore soil nutrition. Not single but flexible between organic rice and biological rice. Especially the irrigation system is intelligently designed. The pumping stations have only one function, either pumping in or discharging and are completely separate to effectively remove alum.

In particular, despite having enough workers, Mr. Tuan still divided the 500-hectare field into small areas of only 20-40 hectares to produce according to the "domino" model. That is, one area is planted 2-3 days before moving to another area, rotating the entire field for about 1 month. Regarding the reason, Mr. Tuan explained: "Rice plants are very sensitive, the intermittent method helps me know what the disease trend is. From there, I have enough time to prevent and stop the following fields from falling into a state of rapid spread like a roller coaster."

The fields are so vast that every time Mr. Tuan visits them, he has to go by car. PHOTO: THANH DUY

The domino model has been implemented by Tuan "two rice" for more than 10 years and has brought clear results. This year, with the Japanese rice variety (DS1), he harvested an average of 7 tons/ha in the summer-autumn crop and 9 tons/ha in the winter-spring crop. After deducting all expenses, he earned a profit of more than 15 billion VND. With the effective way of growing rice on acid sulfate soil, Mr. Tuan is the only person in Kien Giang province to win the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Farmer in the country in 2024.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tuan-hai-lua-va-hanh-trinh-thanh-tuan-ti-phu-tren-canh-dong-500-ha-185250430094144329.htm