The miracle of Thai people in Nghe An in a place of 'thin soil, thick rocks'
(Baonghean) - When we arrived at Na Xai village (Lien Hop commune, Quy Hop district), the fields of Na Cao, Na Pho, and Na Cooc were already covered in a brilliant golden color. In the gentle afternoon sunlight of the last days of September, the sound of laughter echoed across the rice fields, signaling a bountiful harvest...
Growing rice in a place with “thin soil and thick rocks”
Following the Na Cooc field, Mr. Luong Xuan Huong - Secretary of the Na Xai village Party Cell (Lien Hop commune, Quy Hop district) could not hide his joy when in the last crop season, each hectare of rice in Na Xai yielded nearly 61 quintals of rice.
That seems to be a miracle in this place of "thin land, thick rocks", because Na Xai has more than 90% of its area covered by hills and mountains, and the people are all Thai people whose livelihoods mainly depend on the infertile upland rice fields.
“In the past, despite the hard work, each hectare of land could only yield 20 quintals of rice. But no one could grow 1 hectare; 4-5 sao was considered a large area. Therefore, hunger and poverty were always haunting concerns every time the lean season came.”
 |
| Na Xai (Lien Hop, Quy Hop) has more than 12 hectares of rice with the last crop yield reaching 6.1 tons/ha. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
Until 2010, when the Lien Hop Commune Party Committee issued a Resolution on changing production methods, increasing land reclamation near streams and bringing in Thien Uu rice varieties for cultivation, everything changed.
People learned to plant rice, fertilize, and use plows and threshers, so the fields were in neat rows. The hands that were used to holding straw and awls to sow seeds were now holding hoes and transplanting rice, which was a bit strange, but once they got used to it, they found that growing rice in water was less difficult than growing it on the fields, and the productivity and efficiency were much higher.
Now, Na Xai people not only truly master their fields, but also have creativity to overcome the disadvantages of harsh natural living conditions.
Seeing us passing the foot of Huoi Ki hill, a man, full of energy and enthusiasm, hurriedly approached and hugged Party Secretary Luong Xuan Huong. Through the introduction, we learned that he was Luong Van Vinh (born in 1983) - the man who had diligently reclaimed the land by the Ki stream to bring in rice for cultivation.
In his story, Mr. Vinh still clearly remembers the days when he was young, leaving his village to find work in big cities with many plans.
But after many trips and failures, Mr. Vinh realized that, although Na Xai village is a land of many hardships, he believed that with his youth and determination.
He encouraged his wife to be determined to stick to the land and make use of the arable land to "sow" faith in rice cultivation. Now, his small family has more than 5 acres of fertile rice fields on a land that used to be a barren hill full of rocks and gravel.
After Vinh’s success, Mr. Huong used it as an example for the villagers to convince everyone to stick to the land to make a living. Now, the entire Na Xai village has nearly 12 hectares of rice fields, nearly double the amount of 5 years ago.
Notably, with the new rice variety, over the past years, each hectare of rice field has yielded an average of 60 quintals per crop, creating a solid foundation for the lives of the villagers.
Change your way of thinking
Parking his pickup truck neatly on the side of the road, Mr. Le Quang Trung (born in 1983) hurriedly gave his wife half a kilo of salt to "reinforce" the herd of 12 cows that the family was taking care of.
Recalling the early days of marriage, both families were poor so his parents had to run around everywhere to save enough money for the young couple to have two cows as capital to start a business.
 |
| Mr. Le Quang Trung and Ms. Lu Thi Ha - a bright spot in the economic development movement of Na Xai. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
Because the house is near Co valley, the source of food for the cows is always abundant and rich. However, the cows in Na Xai have long been accustomed to roaming freely, eating and sleeping in the forest without the care and disease prevention of the breeders, so all of them are skinny.
Not to mention, in recent years, when the weather has changed erratically, it is not uncommon for cows to get sick or freeze to death in the forest. Therefore, no one in the village has become rich from raising cows.
Yet, Mr. Trung and his wife surprised many villagers when their family's economy became increasingly prosperous thanks to developing cattle farming. The reason is that Ms. Lu Thi Ha (born in 1985) - Mr. Trung's wife is a young, dynamic and enthusiastic party member in the Na Xai Party Cell.
After being encouraged many times by comrades in the commune party committee to apply the semi-free range farming method to set an example for the villagers, she went home to encourage her husband to build barns and study documents and newspapers to raise livestock in this direction.
Thanks to that, the family's 12 cows and 6 pigs are fully vaccinated and safely sheltered in the winter. On average, each year, Trung and his wife sell 3 cows and 2 litters of pigs to have capital to rotate production. With the money they save, they invest in a small pickup truck to transport construction materials to people in the area. Thanks to that, over the years, his family has become a bright spot in the village's economic business.
 |
| Secretary of the Party Cell of Luong Xuan Huong village talks with young party member Lu Thi Ha (born in 1985) - the pioneer family in bringing semi-grazing livestock farming method to Na Xai. Photo: Thanh Quynh |
At the end of our journey to explore Na Xai, the village Party Secretary led us to the Lien Hop Primary School. This school is located on the main road of the village.
Looking at the students attentively listening to the lecture, Mr. Luong Xuan Huong could not hide his pride when he said that 100% of Na Xai children go to school.
“All the villagers are Thai. In the past, due to lack of education, few people could speak and write Mandarin fluently. That was the reason why people had difficulty in trading and communicating, and that was also the root cause of poverty and backwardness. Therefore, when the primary school was built, almost every family encouraged their children to go to school for a better future.”
Before saying goodbye, Secretary of the Lien Hop Commune Party Committee Luong Minh Quang did not forget to share with us that, although Na Xai was not blessed with natural conditions, the people's lives were once confined within the framework of backward customs, but in recent years, with the attention of all levels of branches, Party committees, and local authorities, the people's lives have improved a lot.
Up to now, the average income of people has reached nearly 20 million VND/person/year, of which 20 households have become well-off.
Now when mentioning Na Xai, people have heard many stories about people who dare to change their thinking, innovate their way of thinking, and their way of doing things, especially in economic development methods.
The Na Xai painting has been dotted with many bright colors, which are the colors of solidarity, consensus and striving to rise of the local people themselves.
 |
| The road leading to the center of Na Xai village has now been expanded and upgraded. Photo: Thanh Quynh |