The desire of Bich Hao people

(Baonghean) -There are few areas like Bich Hao in Thanh Chuong district where “it is dry before the sun and flooded before the rain”. In a year, farmers can only produce one spring crop, and for the remaining 7 months they leave the land to the weather. The long off-season makes young workers leave their hometowns to find work...

By chance, I met a friend on this side of Thanh Thuy Border Gate. About 20 years ago, my friend and I parted ways after returning home from the army. He was only in his 40s, but he looked older than his age. After a few minutes of reunion, he said: "My hometown is Thanh Tung commune, the center of Bich Hao area, Thanh Chuong district. Although there is a lot of rice growing land in this area, the fields have to be left fallow for many months, farmers lack jobs, forcing young people like us to go far away to work." It turned out that my friend had left his hometown to work as a construction worker in Laos. Knowing that I was a journalist, before getting on the bus to continue the journey home, he did not forget to invite me to Bich Hao area, maybe there would be a topic to write about.

In early July, I returned to Bich Hao area. Just as you said, my first impression was that while in other localities at this time farmers were out in the fields taking care of the summer-autumn rice, on the contrary, everywhere I went in this area I saw abandoned fields. Dozens of hectares of fields were now only used for grazing cattle. It was rare to see a very small area of ​​summer-autumn rice in the highlands.

We learned that for generations, this land has had to endure the situation of "producing one crop for the whole year". During the rainy season, the fields of Bich Hao area depend on the water level of Lam River. The higher the water level in the Lam River rises, the deeper the water level in this area is, sometimes the whole area is submerged in water for up to 15 days. Therefore, sometimes when the sun is shining, the whole field is suddenly flooded, because the rain from upstream causes the Lam River to rise, causing the farmers of Bich Hao area for generations to not grow summer-autumn rice to "bet" with the weather.



Hoi Kho leads Lam River water into Bich Hao area.

Passing through Tung Tan hamlet, Thanh Tung commune, we saw some farmers diligently tending to some cucumber beds, the plants were less than a hand's height. Next to the cucumber beds were rice fields in the tillering stage. Stopping the car and chatting with some farmers, they confided, "If there is no work, then we just work for the sake of it, because this field has rarely had summer-autumn rice to harvest."

And the story between me and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Sen, in Tung Tan hamlet, shows the diligence, hard work, and perseverance of farmers in this difficult land: The couple has 3 children of school age. To have money to raise their children and make ends meet, in addition to her free time, her husband works as a construction worker for the hamlet's construction team, earning 100,000 VND per day, while his wife and children raise livestock, sometimes making a profit, sometimes losing, because of constant epidemics and unstable prices.

The family has 4 sao of rice fields, and every spring crop is good, they harvest nearly 1.5 tons of rice, which is enough to eat for the whole year. There are years when the crop is bad, less than a ton of rice, so they have to worry about food during the lean season. Last summer-autumn crop, Mrs. Sen boldly asked to receive some more land from households in the village, and planted 1 mau of rice. The total cost was a million dong, but in the end, they did not harvest any rice because of frequent flooding.

Not giving up yet, this summer-autumn crop, Mrs. Sen continued to plant 9 sao of rice, and tried planting 2 sao of cucumbers on 2-rice land. During the recent rainstorm No. 2, the water flooded for 4 days, the rice was not affected, but 1/3 of the cucumbers died. After the water receded, the whole family went to the melon field to fertilize, and dig soil around the roots, hoping that the flood would come late so they could salvage some fruit. If the weather is favorable this summer-autumn crop, her family will have a little more rice, otherwise they will be left with nothing. Mrs. Sen confided, if she did not plant rice, what would she do now, sitting around wasting time. In this low-lying area, there is no fertile land, no side job, how can she feed her children and send them to school. If only the government had a way to prevent flood water from the Lam River from entering the Bich Hao area, the farmers here would have a "change of life".

Thanh Xuan commune is a locality with Ho Chi Minh road running through it, the highest terrain of Bich Hao area, but when mentioning summer-autumn rice production, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Thanh - Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune could not help but worry: Like other communes of Bich Hao area, most of the local 2-rice land area is still left fallow for 7 months of the year, so the people here are among the poorest in Thanh Chuong district.

The whole commune has 110 hectares of land for two rice crops, each year only one spring crop can be grown, the rest of the time, the locality has not thought of what to plant effectively. Previously, the locality encouraged farmers to produce summer-autumn crops with short-term rice varieties, but there has never been a harvest because the flood waters flooded many times, and each time it flooded for at least 4 days, sometimes up to 15 days. There were years when the commune encouraged people to let the rice die, each sao only yielded 20-30 kg of rice, the quality of the rice was poor, and then abandoned. Only about 10 hectares in the highlands, people practice summer-autumn crops, in years with little flood, but if the flood is heavy, it is considered a crop failure.

For 7 months in a year, Thanh Xuan farmers have to find every way to find work. People who are nearing working age stay at home, go to the hills to grow beans, peanuts, cassava, raise pigs, chickens, buffaloes and cows... healthy young people go to the South and North to work for hire. They go to work but have no skills, so their income is low and unstable. It is difficult to count how many people in the commune go to work for hire everywhere. At this time, it is very difficult to find a healthy young man in the hamlets. Like Thanh Xuan commune, Thanh Tung commune has 342 hectares of 2-rice land, this summer-autumn crop can only grow 60 hectares; Thanh Lam commune has 320 hectares of 2-rice land, this summer-autumn crop can grow 40 hectares... the areas where farmers grow summer-autumn rice are all in the highlands.

Old farmer Tran Xuan Suu, Xuan Hoa hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune, worries: His family has 6 mouths to feed, and the commune has allocated 5 sao of rice fields. Because they can only grow spring crops each year, the family focuses on investing in careful rice care, each crop yields nearly 2 tons of rice. If they only eat, they will have enough food for the year, but they only know how to look at the rice grains, so for many years they have not had enough rice to eat. Nearly 70 years old living on this land, he has never harvested the summer-autumn rice crop. Therefore, every year when the spring crop fails, he has to sell his livestock to buy rice to eat for the day.

Mr. Suu sighed: If other local farmers lose this crop, they will have another crop. But my grandmother's farmers here, if they lose the spring crop, what can they expect? Every year it's the same, the whole field is left fallow for a long time, it's a pity. Even if they work, they won't be able to eat, so no one is foolish enough to invest time and money in it. We farmers hope there is some solution to prevent flooding in this area, to make it less difficult for today and for future generations.

Bich Hao area of ​​Thanh Chuong district includes 7 communes: Thanh Giang, Thanh Lam, Thanh Tung, Thanh Mai, Thanh Xuan, Thanh Ha and part of Thanh Long commune. This area has a very complex terrain and topography, divided by high mountain ranges originating from the Truong Son range on the Vietnam - Laos border, running in the Northwest - Southeast direction, with a gradual decrease towards Lam river, forming a plain along Lam river, but also divided by small streams. Due to such terrain, the agricultural land here is steep, with an average of 6 - 7 degrees, easily eroded, washed away, making it difficult to invest in intensive farming as well as drought and flood prevention.

On the other hand, the conditions of the region are not uniform, there are highland areas that often have drought, lowland areas often have floods. Every year, Bich Hao area often suffers from drought from May to early August, and is flooded from late August to early November. In addition, the irrigation system in this area is not good, which is the main reason leading to difficulties in arranging summer-autumn and winter crop production. Therefore, the life of people in this area is generally the most difficult compared to other areas in the district.

The harshness that nature has created for the Bich Hao area is not a matter of today or yesterday, but this is a difficult problem without a solution for many generations of local officials and the agricultural sector. Like the wish of the farmers in the Bich Hao area, for many years, very simply, to be able to plant two rice crops a year. For us, it is the same, coming to Bich Hao, going, seeing and,... having the same wish: if only there was an irrigation topic that could be practically applied to the Bich Hao area, then one day the farmers in this poor countryside would have the opportunity to own their fields and the Bich Hao youth like my friend in the past would not have to worry about being far away from home...

Xuan Hoang