Con Cuong Khau Cam Xang rice is proposed for geographical indication certification.

The above information was announced by Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Con Cuong district, Lo Van Ly.

Currently, Khau Cam Xang rice is being grown on a trial basis in Mau Duc and Thach Ngan communes. In the coming time, together with completing the procedures for applying for geographical indications, the district will expand the scale of cultivation in other localities including Dong Tien, Chom Lom, Yen Hoa villages (Lang Khe commune); Oi village, Lam Khe village (Chi Khe commune); Tan Hoa village, Thanh Nam village, Thanh Dao village, Khe Ran village (Bong Khe commune); Mau Duc commune, Thach Ngan commune, Don Phuc commune, Cam Lam commune, Binh Chuan commune.

Delegates visit the purple sticky rice model at the Na Duoi field, Mau Duc commune. Photo: Ba Hau

Khau Cam Xang is a traditional rice variety of the Thai ethnic group in Con Cuong district, which has been preserved by the Plant Resources Center since 2011 with registration number GBVN 018073. The ancient origin of Khau Cam Xang rice is upland rice but has been domesticated and grown in wet rice fields for many years. Khau Cam Xang rice can be grown in both spring and summer crops.

This is a glutinous rice variety used in daily meals, the traditional cooking method that people in Con Cuong district still apply today is: Drying rice (cooking rice) on a wood stove and using a traditional pot. The cooked rice is left to cool, put into a box made of rattan or bamboo to take to the fields to eat all day, often eaten with sesame salt or cham cheo salt.

In addition, during festivals or Tet holidays in the locality, banh chung or sticky rice wine is indispensable. For the Thai ethnic people in Con Cuong district, this sticky rice product also has spiritual significance. On Tet holiday, there must be at least one product such as sticky rice wine or banh chung or sticky rice wine, then the whole new year will be prosperous, full and lucky.

Khau Cam Xang rice variety of Con Cuong district. Photo: Ba Hau

Khau Cam Xang rice is mainly consumed in Con Cuong district, serving tourists. Currently, customers in other places (Hanoi and other provinces) who know about Khau Cam Xang rice often order it. The selling price of Khau Cam Xang rice originating in Con Cuong district is usually 5,000 - 7,000 VND/kg higher than Khau Cam Xang rice grown in other places. Consumers who buy products in Con Cuong district often use it as gifts and for personal use because the rice is good for people on a diet and anemic (due to its high Fe and Zn content).

According to experts, the land resources in Con Cuong district are quite diverse, in which the type of land used to grow Khau Cam Xang rice is the red-yellow soil transformed by growing wet rice (Fl): With an area of ​​598 hectares, accounting for 0.34% of the total natural land area of ​​the district. This type of land is formed on Feralit soil on different types of parent rocks, shale, metamorphic rock, sandstone... which are exploited by humans to become terraced fields for growing wet rice.