Vinh Thuan is rising to become prosperous and beautiful.

Vinh Thuan is one of four districts in the U Minh Thuong region (also known as Mien Thu region), including An Bien, An Minh, Vinh Thuan, and U Minh Thuong, in Kien Giang province, established in January 1964. Vinh Thuan has just been honored to receive the First Class Labor Medal awarded by the President of Vietnam .

Farmers in Vinh Thuan district, Kien Giang province, are harvesting freshwater prawns.

Once a "salt-rich" area and the most disadvantaged district in the Miệt Thứ region and Kiên Giang province, Vĩnh Thuận district has now developed strongly. This once impoverished and isolated rural area, rich in revolutionary traditions, is now the center for freshwater prawn farming in Kiên Giang province...

Rich in revolutionary traditions

Ninety-two years ago, the Ranh Hat Party Cell, the first Party cell and the predecessor of the Kien Giang Provincial Party Committee (now located in Ranh Hat hamlet, Vinh Thuan commune, Vinh Thuan district), was established, marking a turning point in the struggle for independence of the Party Committee, government, army, and people of Kien Giang province. Situated in the core of the resistance base, Vinh Thuan was considered a "base of the people's hearts," providing absolute security for the Southwest Regional Party Committee, the Central Bureau of the Southern Region, the Rach Gia Provincial Party Committee, and others.

Vinh Thuan is also a "red address" for revolutionary tradition education , such as: the 200-day and night Vam Chac Bang assembly area; the Bang Bien Phu mangrove forest war memorial area; the Ranh Hat historical site; and the final assembly point of the legendary Strategic Transport Route 1C.

According to Do Thanh Binh, Secretary of the Kien Giang Provincial Party Committee, during the resistance war, the U Minh Thuong region, including Vinh Thuan district, suffered greatly. In about three years (from April 1955 to 1957), the enemy launched numerous raids, arresting more than 10,000 revolutionary cadres, soldiers, and patriots, of whom more than 1,500 were killed there.

“Despite enduring brutal torture and sacrificing their lives, with their unwavering revolutionary spirit, the patriotic communist soldiers did not surrender or betray their comrades. They stood tall before the enemy, always steadfast in their faith in the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, believing that the revolution would certainly achieve complete victory, the reunification of the North and South, and the advancement towards socialism,” emphasized Do Thanh Binh, Secretary of the Kien Giang Provincial Party Committee, at the inauguration ceremony of the Bang Bien Phu Melaleuca Forest War Memorial Site in Vinh Thuan on January 6, 2024.

With the war long over, the Party Committee, government, and people of Vinh Thuan district are working together to rebuild their homeland. Vice Chairman of the Vinh Thuan District People's Committee, Le Van Du, shared that from a poor, "salty-water, acidic-soil" rural area where rice and pineapple were the main crops, Vinh Thuan district has now emerged as a large-scale giant freshwater prawn farming area in Kien Giang province.

The district's economy has developed quite well, and its potential and advantages in agriculture and fisheries have been fully utilized. The people's living standards have continuously improved. To date, the average per capita income in the district has reached over 65 million VND/person/year; the poverty rate is only 1.81%. Vinh Thuan district was recognized as achieving the new rural standard in 2020.

Taking us along the newly completed concrete roads and visiting the freshwater prawn farming facilities in the area, Tran Nhat Thuat, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Binh Bac commune, Vinh Thuan district, enthusiastically said: “Inter-commune and inter-hamlet roads are now paved with asphalt and concrete. The entire commune has 4,722 households with nearly 16,000 people, and now only 81 households are poor; there are no more dilapidated houses. Over the past 10 years, many sturdy and spacious houses have sprung up thanks to freshwater prawn farming…”

Giant freshwater prawn farming center

We visited Mr. Pham Quoc Doan (42 years old) in Dong Tranh hamlet, Vinh Binh Bac commune, at dusk. He treated us to a dish of boiled green prawns in coconut milk and we chatted about the changes in the local area. Mr. Doan recounted that about 15 years ago, the people of Dong Tranh hamlet were extremely poor because they relied on pineapple cultivation and two rice crops a year, which were inefficient. At harvest time, pineapple prices plummeted, and the rice crop was affected by salinity, leaving the people scrambling to borrow money to feed and educate their children.

“The shrimp farming movement in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu is booming. Being a bordering area with almost identical land and water resources, it has prompted farmers in Vinh Thuan to explore ways to escape poverty on their homeland. I researched and experimented with raising giant freshwater prawns in pineapple ditches (ponds), and unexpectedly, the shrimp yield was very high,” Mr. Doan said.

Mr. Le Minh Gioi (52 years old) continued: “At that time, I thought my life would change from here, nowhere else. Harvesting shrimp from the pineapple ditches and selling them at the market fetched very high prices. With just a few pineapple ditches for raising freshwater prawns, I earned hundreds of millions of dong. My family prospered thanks to freshwater prawns. From a few acres of land, I have now bought more than 100 acres of land...”

However, the transition from two rice crops per year and the conversion of pineapple plantations to shrimp and crab farming was an extremely arduous process. “At that time, the authorities were adamant about not allowing the conversion to shrimp farming for fear of disrupting the planning and affecting land quality. But then, from 2000 onwards, the results proved the necessity of converting from inefficient two-crop rice farming to rice cultivation combined with shrimp farming, especially in areas with brackish water sources like Vinh Binh Bac and Vinh Binh Nam communes,” Mr. Gioi recounted...

Former Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Kien Giang province, Nguyen Van Tam, recalled that to shift the agricultural structure to suit the local advantages, help farmers escape poverty, and cope with climate change, Kien Giang province at that time oriented itself to develop shrimp farming in areas suitable for shrimp farming, without necessarily clinging to rice or pineapple cultivation. Vinh Thuan in particular, and many other coastal localities with shrimp farming in general, not only aimed for "clean" shrimp farming, but also for "clean" rice cultivation for sustainable production…

Vinh Thuan district currently has approximately 30,000 hectares of land for rice-shrimp rotation; of which, about 80% is used for intercropping giant freshwater prawns with tiger prawns and whiteleg shrimp, yielding about 23,600 tons per year. According to Le Van Du, Vice Chairman of the Vinh Thuan District People's Committee, the district's Cai Lon River and Chac Bang canal, with their low salinity, are very suitable for raising giant freshwater prawns alongside a rice crop. This area used to be a wasteland, with one rice crop, then two rice crops. However, due to saline and acidic soils, only some areas could grow rice successfully, while the rest failed, and fruit tree cultivation was also not very profitable.

Since the shift in agricultural production, this saline-affected land has been very suitable for raising freshwater prawns. During the dry season, people effectively channel brackish water to raise prawns, along with crabs and fish, bringing high value. When the rainy season comes, farmers successfully cultivate rice on the prawn farms, demonstrating the effectiveness of the crop and livestock conversion policy. As a result, from 2000 to the present, the lives of the people in Vinh Thuan district have improved significantly.

Currently, Vinh Thuan district is aiming to build the brand "Vinh Thuan giant freshwater prawn". Mr. Le Van Du affirmed: "Most of Vinh Thuan giant freshwater prawns are naturally occurring, growing and developing on algae and plankton from leftover straw and rice stalks on the rice paddy land; their meat is firm and delicious. The district encourages farmers to try to maintain one rice crop on prawn farming land to utilize straw and rice stalks as feed for prawns, aiming towards clean agriculture, improving quality, value, and competitiveness."

Giant freshwater prawns have now found their calling in Vinh Thuan district, helping thousands of farmers escape poverty and become wealthy. Thanks to favorable natural conditions and a strong will to succeed, farmers like Mr. Le Minh Gioi and Mr. Pham Quoc Doan can annually sell tens of tons of prawns from their vast flooded fields, earning billions of dong. They are thriving in this challenging area, building their homeland into a giant freshwater prawn farming center of Kien Giang province…

Quoc Trinh

Source: https://nhandan.vn/vinh-thuan-vuon-minh-giau-dep-post846712.html#846712|region-highlight-30|0