Domestic chickens fight... domestic chickens

(Baonghean) - In our Hmong village, there has never been any land disputes over farming land, but now it's happening. People from the lowlands will probably find this very strange. After all, in the mountainous regions, there's plenty of land and few people. Why would anyone need to fight over it?

It's true that there's more land and fewer people in the high mountains than in the lowlands. However, even in the commune now, there are many villages with larger populations. Although not as densely populated as in the lowlands, they are already starting to face land shortages for farming. And the problem isn't the lack of land, but something else entirely.

The Hmong people, as soon as the rooster crows at dawn, go up to the fields to clear land, plant rice and corn, and herd cattle. Everyone lives like that, so with little land for farming, they not only worry about not having enough to eat, but their hands and feet also feel restless because they're too idle.

Because they are hardworking, the older people in the village are born and build houses and cultivate fields before the younger generation. It's common for them to have more farmland. However, their fields keep expanding. Initially, it was only half a hillside, but later it spread across several hills. Younger people, born and built houses later, are left with little land, small fields, and thin cows. The hardworking people remain poor.

That's why some people who don't have land to cultivate keep searching in the forest and inadvertently encroach on protected forests or forests designated for state-owned cultivation. They probably know it, but because they don't have land to farm, they have to take the risk. Many people simply don't know. Only when forest rangers come to fine them do they open their eyes wide and exclaim, "Oh, really?"

The villagers hope that the officials will research how to ensure that younger people, born and built houses later, will also receive land for farming, even if not as much as those born earlier, but enough to grow rice and feed themselves. The officials should also accompany the villagers to inspect the land and clearly show them which areas are designated for farming and which are forest areas for conservation, to avoid incorrect land clearing.

As the farmland narrowed, people who had always been kind became ill-tempered, fighting over land. Although there hadn't been any clashes yet, there were already arguments between different families and villages. The officials were concerned that without land for farming, sooner or later there would be internal conflicts within the village...

HV

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According to the opinions of the people in Na Ngoi (Ky Son).