King Hung's "Smart Rice Grain"

(Baonghean) - On the Hung King's death anniversary, I remember the legend of Lang Lieu who offered King Hung Chung and Day cakes made from fragrant sticky rice. At that time, the Vietnamese people considered rice grains as "pearls of heaven", and together with that, they formed a thousand-year-old wet rice civilization that always promoted the good qualities of rice farmers: diligence, hard work, and perseverance.

Looking back to the 1980s, Vietnam, from a country with severe food shortages and having to import food, became one of the largest rice exporters in the region and the world, how happy, excited and proud we were! However, in recent years, rice production and export have been difficult. We continue to grow rice for export in an unstable market context, without a competitive advantage, mainly due to the low quality of our rice.

Reenacting the offering ceremony of Chung cake and Day cake at Hung Temple Festival. Photo: pv

In the domestic market, rice prices are low while agricultural material prices are high, forcing some places to abandon rice cultivation and leave fields fallow, because the more they plant and the more they work in the sun and rain, the more they lose! On the other hand, in places where cultivation is favorable, the "rice fields and honey fields" have been turned into golf courses or industrial parks, or into "suspended projects".

The legend of banh chung and banh day is rich in humanistic meaning, along with the rice cultivation profession that has been and is "feeding" an entire nation and a unique culture. Therefore, not only must we never allow rice cultivation in our country to be lost or extinct, but we must also find ways to develop and modernize this profession. From the diligent and fragrant rice grains of Lang Lieu in the past, the descendants of King Hung must now be creative, invest "brainpower" to create rice grains that are delicious, prevent and cure diseases, and suit the taste of all mankind. From banh chung and banh day, there must now be many high-class products and functional foods; from exporting raw materials, we must now export high-value finished products. If we can do that, rice and foods processed from rice will definitely have a competitive advantage in the markets.

To do so, in addition to preserving and restoring traditional rice varieties, it is essential to invest in research, testing, and breeding new rice varieties with high quality and productivity. Sectors and levels in the State system need to stand side by side with rice growers, implementing effective support policies on varieties, capital, and techniques, not letting farmers bear the hardships and difficulties alone in the fields. Furthermore, rice cultivation needs to be "corporatized" and produced on a modern, scientific scale.

To produce "smart rice", the descendants of King Hung must not only be diligent, hard-working, and kind like Lang Lieu in the past, but also creative, dare to think, dare to do, and have confidence in their own intelligence and strength!

Hoai Quan