Rising from the sandy homeland

Many areas of white sand, once known as “dead lands” in Hai Lang district, have now been transformed into lush green flower growing areas. With determination to conquer, aspiration to rise up, and support from authorities at all levels and the agricultural sector, local people have created sustainable livelihoods on the difficult land of their homeland.

People in Dong Duong village, Hai Duong commune, Hai Lang district have just planted bitter melon in the off-season - Photo: D.V

Conquering the "land of the dead"

Whenever mentioning Hai Lang, many people often only know that it is a land of vast white sand with a total area of ​​up to 7,000 hectares. This place is also a land of scorching sun and scorching Lao winds. Such harsh weather conditions caused the "flying sand, jumping sand, flowing sand, and filling sand" problem to once ravage many fields and villages of the people. It can be said that sand used to be a nightmare for most people in the sand and coastal areas, which account for nearly half of the total population and area of ​​the district.

After many years of being concerned with the hardships of the people, since 1993, Mr. Hoang Phuoc, Director of the Department of Irrigation of Quang Tri province at that time, had the opportunity to start researching the improvement of the environment and ecology of the sand areas in Hai Lang and Trieu Phong districts. With perseverance, patience and many years of working in the field, staying close to and living with the people in the sand areas to implement combined agricultural - forestry - irrigation measures, Mr. Phuoc has successfully improved the sand areas.

Thanks to that, the problem of "flying sand, jumping sand, flowing sand, and filling sand" that had been a problem for generations was almost completely controlled. By 1997, on more than 5,000 hectares of coastal sandy land in Hai Lang and Trieu Phong districts, hundreds of hectares of casuarina and yellow cajuput forests had taken root and grown green. When the land gradually revived, local authorities organized the relocation of people to the sandy areas to build eco-villages.

There have been about 600 households in the two districts of Hai Lang and Trieu Phong living sustainably and striving to develop the economy, making efforts to get rich in the sand area since then. Not only receiving the respect and gratitude of the people in the sand area, Mr. Hoang Phuoc has also successfully defended his PhD thesis on the topic of sand area improvement.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dieu, Thong Nhat village, Hai Binh commune, Hai Lang district, harvests and sells plants to traders - Photo: DV

From the success of renovating the sand areas in Hai Lang and Trieu Phong of Quang Tri, many provinces such as Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue have also followed Mr. Phuoc's model and conquered many wild sand areas for people to migrate and establish villages to live and work stably. In addition to the great contributions of Dr. Hoang Phuoc, often considered by the people as the "founder" of the ecological villages in the sand areas, and the hard work of the people, the determination of the province and district, concretized by economic development policies in the sand areas, has contributed to helping the "dead land" gradually revive.

In 2007, Hai Lang District Party Committee issued a Resolution on socio-economic development of sand areas. Subsequently, localities started to relocate people to sand areas to form new residential areas.

At the same time, we will deploy investment in infrastructure construction, especially transportation infrastructure, production infrastructure, power grid, irrigation canal system, dykes to prevent flooding and drainage for sandy areas. At the same time, we will change the crop structure, build models of intercropping agriculture and forestry together with many policies to support production development in sandy areas in the coming years...

Thanks to that, from the dry sandy lands that hurt the eyes in the scorching summer sun or were constantly flooded in the rainy season, the white sand area of ​​Hai Lang is now covered with a hopeful green color of forests on the sand, of flower gardens of all kinds that are green all year round. Up to now, the whole Hai Lang district has 10,000 hectares of sandy economic areas, with crops that have high income values ​​such as nem tree (140 - 150 million VND/ha), bitter melon reaching 110 - 120 million VND/ha.

Sweet fruit from dry land

On the days before the Lunar New Year 2025, I visited the production area of ​​the unit with the Director of Dong Duong Cooperative, Hai Duong Commune, Phan Van Quang. Having not returned to this land for nearly 10 years, I was truly amazed at the changes in this white sand land.

The concentrated production areas of the Dong Duong villagers are planned systematically, divided into scientific plots, with drainage ditches and roads (although they are still earthen ditches and red dirt roads). The gardens of nettles and bitter melons are connected to each other, greening the once-difficult sandy countryside. Visit the garden of Mr. Le Van Tan (60 years old), Dong Duong village, when he and his wife are meticulously tilling the soil for several rows of taro plants and taking the opportunity to pick nettle leaves.

Since the country's reunification, when he was still a teenager, Mr. Tan and his parents went to the sand area to cultivate potatoes and cassava to make ends meet. "Back then, things were very difficult, the whole area was covered with white sand. In the summer, sandstorms often buried crops. Sometimes, newly planted potatoes and cassava plants would be covered by sand the next day, leaving no trace behind.

Sometimes, when it was almost time to harvest, the sand would cover up to a meter and it took a long time to dig to get the tubers. Now, the sandy garden fields have been renovated into contiguous plots, with ditches, fairly complete traffic roads, and are surrounded by planted forests and natural forests, so production is more sustainable and secure," Mr. Tan confided.

Growing watermelon on the sand in Kim Long village, Hai Binh commune, Hai Lang district - Photo: D.V

Mr. Tan and his wife are currently cultivating 3 sao of sandy land, mainly growing nem and bitter melon, and intercropping with peanuts and red beans. “From June to October of the lunar calendar, I grow bitter melon, the average price of melon is 10,000 - 15,000 VND/kg. From July to January, I grow nem, pruning and selling the plants, leaving the tubers to sell and save for seeds.

The price of the tubers ranges from 52,000 to 55,000 VND/kg, the first-season tubers are about 30,000 VND/kg, normally around 10,000 VND/kg. The couple works hard all year round with a few acres of land in the sandy area and farming, and they live quite comfortably," Mr. Tan added. Hai Duong commune is also the first locality in the Hai Lang sand area to focus on developing two main crops: tubers and bitter melon with a total area of ​​about 100 hectares. In particular, according to the sharing of local officials and people, the tubers of the sand area of ​​Hai Duong commune are considered by many customers to be the best in the country. Currently, the commune is focusing on developing them into OCOP products, building linkage chains, building cooperatives and cooperatives to bring Hai Duong tubers to many large provinces and cities in the country and calculating the export in the future.

In addition to the production efficiency, Mr. Phan Van Quang also expressed his concern: “Currently, production in the Indochina sand region is developing strongly, people are cultivating naturally quite effectively. However, the transportation system within the production area and drainage ditches from 2012 to now have not been invested in concrete, making it very difficult to transport fertilizers, seeds as well as during the harvest season. The cooperative has made recommendations to all levels and sectors for many years but has not received investment attention. Hopefully, the government will soon pay attention to these very urgent recommendations to help people feel secure in cultivating more effectively and sustainably.”

Mr. Le Anh Quoc, an officer in charge of the cultivation sector of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hai Lang district, informed: In recent years, the district has implemented many crop rotation models; agro-forestry models; intensive production models of peanuts, nettles, and bitter melons concentrated on sandy areas. Many crops that are considered effective on sandy areas such as melons of all kinds, nettles, bitter melons, etc. have been invested in and developed. The district has been actively directing communes to mobilize people in sandy areas to increase the area of ​​nettles and bitter melons, along with many support policies on seeds, fertilizers, and opening training courses on cultivation. Up to now, the whole district has developed 192 hectares of nettles and 16 hectares of bitter melons, mainly concentrated in the communes of Hai Duong, Hai Binh, and Hai Dinh.

A few kilometers away, the concentrated production area on the sand of Thong Nhat village (old Hai Ba commune, now Hai Binh commune) is also bustling with people taking care of the nem trees on the eve of Tet. At this time, around 4-5 am, people turn on lights to harvest the nem leaves to help keep the trees fresh to sell to traders who come to buy early. With nearly 2 sao of land here, for decades, Ms. Nguyen Thi Dieu (59 years old) has worked hard from morning to night to plant nem trees and intercrop beans and spices to make a living. "Although the area is small, the land is almost never left to rest all year round.

Thanks to farming in the sand area and doing extra farming, my husband and I have raised 2 children to study properly, have jobs after graduating, and have a stable income," Mrs. Dieu happily said. On many occasions working in Hai Lang, I was very impressed with the "sand farmer" Vo Viet Tien, 70 years old this year - who has been attached to the Ru Bac area in Phuong Hai village, Hai Binh commune for 25 years.

On the 5 hectares of flat, fallow land here, he reclaimed and improved it for many years by using effective measures such as planting hybrid acacia trees around to create a wind and sand barrier, then digging and building a drainage system to drain water, dividing each plot into green manure plots to improve it for cultivation. When the land was domesticated, he planted many types of crops such as green beans, high-yield cassava, melons, cucumbers, peanuts, red sweet potatoes, hybrid corn and the main crop was off-season watermelon (11 sao), combined with poultry farming and freshwater fish farming.

From this farm, for many years his family has had an average income of 130 - 140 million VND, of which income from watermelon accounts for 50%. In many other favorable lands, Mr. Tien's income is not too large, but to have an income of over 100 million VND in a dry sandy area is very admirable. Recently, via phone, Mr. Tien said that recently, due to health reasons, he has converted almost all of his area to grow acacia and cajuput trees and in a few years will also have a fairly high income.

Vice Chairman of Hai Binh Commune People's Committee Vo Viet Dinh said that Phuong Hai and Thong Nhat villages have about 200 hectares of sandy farming land, mainly growing cassava and various crops; of which the two main crops are nem and bitter melon. Mr. Dinh said that Hai Binh is a low-lying area of ​​the district, often flooded, the economy mainly relies on agriculture but the productivity is low and unstable, so the people's lives face many difficulties.

To help people develop the economy and improve their lives, the locality has long had policies focusing on exploiting sand areas, investing in infrastructure and encouraging and mobilizing people to go to the sand areas to renovate and reclaim land to develop production and livestock. Up to now, there have been dozens of households going to the sand areas to cultivate crops, with a fairly stable income.

“Production in the sand has helped people have a stable source of income in addition to farming and other side jobs. With the support of programs and projects, people are now focusing on natural farming and organic production to improve the quality and value of agricultural products to reach further in the market and increase income,” Mr. Dinh expressed.

In addition to Hai Duong and Hai Binh, now having the opportunity to travel through the once-raging sandy lands such as Hai An, Hai Khe, Hai Dinh... many people cannot help but admire when witnessing many farming models that have brought about stable economic efficiency. Like cactus flowers on the sand, many sandy areas in Hai Lang district have now truly become "green oases" full of vitality and are a source of income and a sustainable livelihood for local people.

German Vietnamese

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/vuon-len-tu-mien-cat-que-huong-190975.htm