Border people are happy with the corn harvest.

Good harvest, help each other harvest corn

When the corn fields are filled with firm, bright yellow corn ears, the people of Bai So village, Tam Quang commune begin to harvest.

Joining the people in the fields to harvest the fruits of their labor, Tam Quang commune agricultural officer Nguyen Thi Hoai said that this summer-autumn crop, Bai So village planted 53 hectares of corn. With the actual rate of harvested cotton and grain, the expected summer-autumn corn yield is quite high, about 4.5-5 tons/ha. In addition to planting the summer-autumn crop, Bai So villagers have also started to plant winter corn on fertile soil. Currently, more than 22 hectares of winter corn have sprouted.

Each household in Bai So village participating in corn cultivation has an average of about 0.3-0.5 hectares of corn, each crop yields 1-3 tons depending on the area, not only providing a source of animal feed, but also for sale, increasing income.

In Mr. Hoang Van Son's corn field, there was a "strange thing": the corn field owner was not present, but there were many people from the neighborhood quickly picking the plump, golden corn ears, putting them in bags and bringing them back to Mr. Son's house.

While joining the people in harvesting corn, Tam Quang Commune People's Committee official Nguyen Thi Hoai said: "That is more than 0.35 hectares of corn belonging to Mr. Hoang Van Son's family. Mr. Son has a serious illness and is currently being treated in Hanoi. The family is short of people, and the corn is ripe in the field with no one to harvest it. Seeing that, the government and neighbors, in addition to contributing money to visit, without anyone telling anyone, voluntarily went to the field to help him harvest corn. Not only helping Mr. Hoang Van Son's family, the people also harvested corn to help other families with sick members or people who had just had traffic accidents and could not go to the field."

According to the people of Bai So village, people have a tradition of farming and helping each other, "neighbors help each other in times of need". When a family has happy or sad stories, people care, share, and support each other, considering it a joy in life, creating a united and progressive village community.

The leader of Tam Quang Commune People's Committee said that since implementing the program of building new advanced rural areas, many farming households in the border commune have not only changed their thinking about production, raising livestock and developing the economy, but their lifestyle and solidarity have also become closer. Villages in Tam Quang Commune almost no longer have backward customs, but instead are civilized and progressive in collective movements, culture, arts, physical education and sports.

Actively converting crop structure

In the summer-autumn crop - season of 2023, the whole Tam Quang commune has more than 100 hectares of rice. According to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Kha Thi Hien commune, due to drought, nearly 30 hectares of summer-autumn crop production had to be abandoned, only about 75 hectares could be planted. For ineffective rice areas, the People's Committee of the commune directed people to switch to growing other crops and fruit trees such as corn, peanuts, melons, etc. In Bai So village as well as other villages and hamlets in Tam Quang commune, from the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, people switched from growing rice to growing corn, watermelons, cucumbers and high-yield cassava.

For example, at the end of 2022, on the rice fields that had been abandoned for many years due to drought, Mr. Tran Van Do's family switched to growing corn. Initially, he planted off-season crops, with good yields and drought tolerance. After success, he continued to grow corn in the summer-autumn crop.

Mr. Do said that corn is quite suitable for the soil along the stream, so it gives high yield, firm, even grains and big ears. In addition, he also grows watermelons and cassava and invests in a system of pipes to bring water from the stream near Nam Khun dam for irrigation.

“This alluvial area lacks water because it is far from dams, streams, and streams. The family has invested nearly ten million VND to rent a generator, plow the land, pull power lines, and buy water pipes to grow watermelons. The 2022 watermelon and cucumber season brought in an income of over 20 million VND, after deducting expenses, the profit was over 10 million VND, more efficient than growing rice. This corn crop also yielded a good harvest, and people feel more secure when producing on the village fields,” said Mr. Tran Van Do.

Seeing the effectiveness of crop restructuring in the arid area of ​​Bai So village, in 2023, more households reclaimed this wasteland. By the end of the year, almost all the wasteland areas were covered with green corn and cassava fields. People also built huts, pulled power lines, brought in machinery to plow and harvest, turning the wasteland into a bustling place every harvest season.

Along with the change in crop structure, the locality also guides people to protect protective forests, exploit the area of ​​​​xoan forest that cannot develop to convert to acacia and meter planting, take advantage of poor forest areas with no value, land along streams and streams to develop corn cultivation combined with forest planting. Thanks to that, the forest area in Tam Quang commune has been planted to 251.9 hectares, of which nearly 3 hectares are meter.

From the initial directions, the leaders of Tam Quang Commune People's Committee said that in the coming time, they will continue to promote the conversion of production structure to commodity production; convert the area of ​​​​wet rice fields that are often lacking water to grow corn and grass to develop large-scale livestock farming. Focus on developing raw material forest plantation, on average planting 140 - 150 hectares each year and expanding a number of other effective livestock and crop farming models. For example, the model of raising fattened buffalo and cows in Bai So, Tam Lien, Bai Xa villages; planting meters in Bai So, Tam Lien villages... is gradually helping people have more jobs, with an average income of more than 36 million VND/person/year.