"Father" of wet rice in La Ngan

(Baonghean) -For nearly 10 years now, it seems that changes have come every day to the lives of the Khmu people in La Ngan village, Chieu Luu commune (Ky Son). That change has been partly contributed by the beginning of wet rice cultivation by Mr. Moong Bien Phong - the person the Khmu people call the "father" of wet rice.

It was a late winter day when I returned to La Ngan to meet Moong Border Guard again (the first time was nearly 5 years ago). My first impression was that the road connecting National Highway 7 to the village, nearly 5 km long, had been paved by the State, making it very convenient for vehicles to travel. La Ngan village now has many new houses and new fields. Still with the same humble tone as last time, but when I mentioned the story of reclaiming land, helping poor households raise cows... the story became lively... Moong Border Guard brought out a jar of traditional medicinal wine picked from the forest. He said: "I have this health thanks to this jar of wine."

After finishing his glass of wine, Moong Bien Phong recalled: “After 9 years of fighting in the Southern battlefield, in 1979, I was discharged from the army and returned to my hometown in Chieu Luu commune. At that time, the life of the Khmu people here was still difficult and backward.” As the Party Secretary of the commune, for more than 10 years of “eating at home and carrying the prison and the village”, Moong Bien Phong actively mobilized, directed and guided people to change their production methods, not to live a nomadic life, limit burning and destroying forests for slash-and-burn cultivation, but to proactively settle down to produce such as growing corn, potatoes, cassava, raising buffalo, cows, chickens, ducks... to proactively provide food on the spot, ensuring life. Besides, he constantly propagated for people to eliminate bad customs, together keeping the village peaceful.

In 1992, he was appointed by the Ky Son district government to be the Head of the Organizing Committee and the Head of the Mass Mobilization Committee. In 2006, after retiring, he returned to the people of La Ngan village to continue to fulfill his wish to help his people. He said: “The Khmu people only know how to farm. When hungry, they look for cassava and wild vegetables, but they absolutely do not grow wet rice. All year round, they go to the fields to sow corn and rice, and plant cassava to make ends meet.” Knowing that it is difficult to change this “deep-rooted” perception, Mr. Phong used the policy of “slow and steady wins the race” - if he wanted people to grow wet rice, he had to start doing it first. Only when they can do it, and let people see that the rice will bring them a full and warm life, will they be willing to follow. But to grow wet rice, there must be flat land and water from streams. After a period of surveying, Moong Border Guard found that the wild field in front of his village could be transformed into terraced fields to produce pearls. That was Khe Tien field. The elderly here said that La Ngan was formerly inhabited by the Thai people, and Khe Tien was the place where the Thai people produced wet rice. Later, because of floods and an uncertain source of irrigation water, the Thai people moved to settle elsewhere. Only later did the Khmu people come here to settle down and cultivate fields to make a living.



Mr. Phong reclaimed rice fields.

So the rice planting work began! His four children and wife, whenever they had free time from farming, would carry hoes and follow him to the fields to build banks, hoe grass, level the soil, and dig irrigation ditches. And after a period of racking their brains and sweating, more than 1 hectare of land was planted with rice. Each year, he planted two crops, and each year his family harvested at least 5 tons of rice. The Khmu people in La Ngan saw this and praised him for his talent. But he was still not happy, because many families in the village still lacked rice to eat. Without any hesitation, he discussed with his wife and children, giving all the land that his family had worked hard to obtain to the poor people in the village for production. After that, Moong Border Guard decided to go alone to Puc Dao valley to set up camp and continue to reclaim the land. The advantage was that next to the valley was Khe Tien, where water flowed year-round, but bringing water into ponds and fields was very difficult because the water level was low and the flow was not much. Therefore, he mobilized the entire labor force of his family and brothers to help fill the area, dig ditches to bring water into the fields... In a short time, the barren land became terraced fields with more than 1 hectare of rice fields. However, to proactively irrigate and regulate water properly, he spent all his money to invest in buying a water pipe system to install with a budget of hundreds of millions of dong. Seeing that Mr. Phong had fields and fish ponds, and his family life was stable and prosperous, the villagers admired him even more.

Learning from Mr. Moong Bien Phong's method, many families in La Ngan village have now reclaimed some land in Khe Tien field. The family of La Ngan village chief - Moong Van Binh used to have only nearly 1 hectare of upland, not enough rice to eat all year round. Since following Mr. Phong to reclaim and restore 6 sao of land for wet rice production, every year there is a surplus of rice. Many families have therefore also bought hoes and shovels to go to Khe Tien field to reclaim the fields. Village chief Binh said: Up to now, La Ngan village has 5 hectares of wet rice. The village has 127 households, most of whom have grown wet rice.

Moong Bien Phong is also a “midwife” for families in particularly difficult circumstances. Taking advantage of the grassy hills on both sides of Khe Tien, Mr. Phong invested in breeding cows. When his family’s herd of cows grew into a herd, he supported the difficult families by sending them breeding cows to raise. His support policy is that when the cow gives birth to the first litter, the breeder gets to enjoy it, and he takes the second cow. When that family has their own cow to raise, he takes the mother cow and continues to send it to another household to raise. So far, there have been 13 families that he has sent breeding cows to develop livestock farming. And the joy is that among them, 10 families have herds of cows. Mr. Moong Van Hai, who received cows from Mr. Phong, happily said: “In the past, our family had a very difficult time, lacking food all year round, but since Mr. Phong helped us, gave us fields, cows, and guided us on how to make a living, our family no longer lacks food. From the calf that Mr. Phong gave us, our family now has several cows. Last year, our family sold the calves to repair the house and buy a TV. We are very grateful for Mr. Phong's kindness.” The households of Luong Xen Thay, Moong Van Hoai, Chich Van Nghia... also had less difficulty thanks to the cows he gave them.

Before parting, Moong Border Guard expressed his wish that if the State invested in building a water dike in Khe Lom, the fields of Puc Dao and Khe Tien would have abundant water for irrigation, and the La Ngan people would have more rice. Khe Lom has water flowing all year round, but the water level is much lower than the field surface, so there is not enough water for irrigation in the dry season. The district has surveyed many times and promised to invest in construction, but so far there has been no sign of construction.

Although he has reached his seventies, Moong Bien Phong is still working hard in the fields, always thinking of the Khmu people. The silent contributions of the “father” of wet rice in La Ngan have helped the people here to reduce the difficulties in life, and are contributing day by day to build Ky Son village to change and become more prosperous.

Xuan Hoang