Through the golden fields of the West

(Baonghean) -I felt comfortable, with the fragrant scent of rice fields in my chest as I walked through the Muong Qua fields, the place with the most rice fields in Con Cuong district. It was mid-May but the atmosphere was still cool. The Giang River flowed calmly. On the asphalt road, groups of female students from Muong Qua school leisurely cycled through the thousand-acre rice fields. In a few days, it would be harvest time, and the fields would be bustling with excitement like a festival.

Muong Qua has been a rice-growing area for hundreds of years. When Mr. Vi Van Khang was the first Party Cell Secretary in Tra Lan, the Thai people in the neighboring villages already knew how to grow rice. I remember meeting Mr. Luong Van Que in Tan Son village, Mon Son commune, and learning that this nearly 100-year-old man was proud of carrying Mr. Khang's bag to meetings throughout Con Cuong district when he was still a young boy. "Since then, people in Dong Khua, Noong Bua, Xieng Pun village, Xong To, Xong Nua have all grown rice. After harvesting the rice, people called each other to go and re-dug the ditches. And so, the Muong Qua people have grown rice until today."

Ripe rice fields in Mon Son commune (Con Cuong). Photo: Ho Phuong

Nowadays, the names Dong Khua, Noong Bua, Xieng Pun village or Xong Nua, Xong To are unfamiliar names to young people. After the revolution, the Muong Qua area was renamed Mon Son, Luc Da in Con Cuong district, but the wet rice cultivation profession was still maintained and developed more than before. The Muong Qua fields are even more spacious than before. The government and people of Con Cuong determined that this field would be the rice granary of the entire large region, so there was a lot of "joining hands" from agencies, units and people in many places to expand the wet rice area in Muong Qua. The atmosphere of land reclamation and land clearing of the 60s of the last century still remains a bustling joy in the memories of many Muong Qua people. Back then, the Ethnic Youth School was located in Mon Son. Teachers and students of the school, after school hours, went to the fields with the people to reclaim and clear the canals. Just like that, until the 70s of the last century, Muong Qua field was basically like today.

Thai and Kinh people harvest rice in Tam Quang commune (Tuong Duong). Photo: Ho Phuong

Time flies, life along the Giang River has changed but still seems peaceful. Every May and October, the rice fields turn golden. As calm as the school buses going to class in the morning and afternoon.

But now, not only Muong Qua, but also many golden fields in the Western Nghe An region are promising a bumper harvest, glowing with golden color, bustling with footsteps following the rhythm of heavy baskets on the back. Under the clear summer sky, wandering with the thought of “going to see the harvest” has brought me to many roads, many fields far away in the West.

“Although the rice area is not large, recently, Ky Son district is trying to increase rice productivity.” My friend who works at the district radio station informed me and suggested that I visit the rice fields along the Nam Mo River. The river originates from Laos and flows through nearly a hundred kilometers before flowing into the Lam River in Xa Luong commune, Tuong Duong district. In Ky Son district, the areas where the river passes through are also the places where the most rice is grown in the whole district. The terraced fields in the ripe rice season paint a beautiful, colorful picture for the high mountains, which are covered with deep green mountains and green forests.

Following my friend who works for the radio station in Ky Son district, I went to Na Luong 1 village, Huu Kiem commune. The small Thai village has nearly half of the rice fields in the whole commune. The weather in May suddenly turned cold, with drizzle like it was January. We arrived at the right time when the local government and a rice seed supplier were holding a workshop on an agricultural model. This was the first time the people of Na Luong 1 village had tried planting J02 rice. The rice variety is also known as Japonica and originated from Japan. Six years ago, villages in Tri Le commune, Que Phong district also tried planting it and had high yields. This rice variety prefers cold climates and is very suitable for the spring crop in the mountainous areas of Nghe An.

New rice variety model in Huu Kiem commune (Ky Son). Photo: Ha Phuong

For more than half of her life, Mrs. Lo Thi Giang has been attached to the terraced fields in Na Luong 1 village. She said: For the past ten years, the villagers have been growing two crops every year, but the yield has always been low, and they have to work more to have enough rice to eat. Therefore, when the commune government implemented the model, they said that this new variety has a very high yield, and everyone in the village wanted to register to try planting it. Then, only 20 households were selected. Those were the households with the most experience in wet rice cultivation.

Only after doing it did I realize that this J02 rice variety is really difficult to grow. During the time of making the model, agricultural staff always closely followed the households from the incubation and soaking stages to sowing, weeding, and pest control. Just for example, the soaking stage, every 3 hours, the water must be changed once. If you forget to change the water, the rice will not be able to germinate when incubated.

After a few months, when the rice has started to form ears, the modelers are still not really satisfied. Because this is the time when many pests appear. "Only when we see the rice in the milky stage, we feel secure", Ms. Giang shared. The rice grains are plump, round like upland rice grains, exuding a gentle fragrance that makes the Na Luong farmers happy as if they were having a festival. After the workshop, the modelers will harvest the first rice crop with this new variety. However, just by looking at it, we can see that this new variety can bring about a bumper harvest.

Women in Hong Son village, Luc Da commune (Con Cuong) harvest rice. Photo: Ho Phuong

In the suddenly chilly weather, the terraced fields seemed to warm up the atmosphere. It had been a long time since hundreds of people had flocked to the fields to see the ripe rice. Those who were not in the group implementing the model were just as excited as those involved, everyone was looking forward to the next crop when the whole village would be instructed to plant a new rice variety. Just by looking at it with the naked eye, one could see that there were more flowers and firmer grains than the local rice variety that had been planted for many years.

Ha Phuong