‘Farmer on high heels’ planting 100 ha of rice in Thai Binh

No matter how many rice is planted, it all seemingly amounts to nothing

Going back to her 100 ha of rice and service planting another 100 ha of rice for the neighbors, Tran Thi Lanh still shows no fatigue at work because the machines have replaced human labor. She is the Head of Giao Nghia village (Binh Minh commune, Kien Xuong district, Thai Binh province) - an old acquaintance of mine. One surprising thing is that when I came here 3 years ago, she only had 27 ha of land in jumble, most of which she borrowed and paid the neighbors basic fees.

Having succeeded in borrowing relatively large plots but stuck with some small plots in the middle, she had to put some more effort to persuade the people: "Option one, if you still want to plant, just choose the best piece in the area I have borrowed. As for this plot, it would be best if you gather and exchange the land for me to make a compact area.

“Option two, if you still want to work here but don't have machines, hiring manual labor may cost VND 300,000/sao (1 sao equals 360 m²). Not to mention the seed, sowing and reaping stages, different varieties leads to different harvesting time, raising concerns of pests and diseases, thus I would like to offer service from tillage, harvest to transplant using the same variety at the same time to reduce costs for you.

“Option three, if you don't plant but are ready to lend the field, I will offer payment of 30 kg of rice/sao/year, equivalent to the fees you have to pay for the cooperative."

Normally, most farmers would not listen to her right away but try to plant a few crops. It was until natural disasters and rat infestations led to inefficient production that they would be willing to "let go" of the land.

After that, Lanh met with the village heads in the area to gather households and tell them that those who did not work in their fields can lend them to her, and she would pay the fees. They should not leave the fields uncultivated which violates the Law on Land.

"Why do you invest in agriculture when you already are the owner of an unburnt brick factory and a household goods store with more than enough money to live?”, I asked Lanh. She replied with a smile, saying it was because she saw farmers were having a hard time planting rice, so she wanted to do something to make their life less miserable. In 2015, when she first started working, due to her lack of experience, she gained no profit. In 2017, her fields suffered from the black-striped dwarf disease. She lost everything and was about to give up, but then she tried her best to overcome the situation.

Lanh currently has 4 transplanters, 1 harvester that does not need anyone to pack the rice but instead sprays directly into the container, 2 large tillers, 2 sowing machines, 1 fertilizer machine, a dryer that can operate with 35 tons per batch, and 30,000 trays of seedlings. The total value is an estimate VND 5 billion. That amount of machinery is enough for her to plant 100 ha of rice, of which 15 ha are used for seed production, and the rest is for commercial use with varieties such as BC 15, Dai Thom 8, and ST25.

Dreaming about the brand of… “leech” rice

Recently in May 19 this year, Quang Lanh Agricultural Production and Business Cooperative was officially born, which name is a combination of Lanh and her husband’s name. She was able to gather 20 members with a total capital of VND 1.4 billion and a total area of 200 ha with a relatively complete system of machinery, including drones.

She said the reason for establishing the cooperative was that she wanted to create prestige with people through production links, have a greater voice with companies so that she could sign contracts. The old-fashioned cooperative in the past only worked on land, water, and plant. Now her new type of cooperative has more transplanting and harvesting services. She is going to open a rice shop, create her own brand of organic rice, and put it in the OCOP program.

“Now some brackish water areas can produce ‘fiddle crab’ rice and ‘nereididae’ rice, so freshwater areas like mine will produce… ‘leech’ rice,” Lanh jokingly said.

“For many years, farmers have scattered chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and snail drugs on the fields, so much that even leech was almost put to extinction. People of the old ages cultivated rice with hardship but still lived a long life well thanks to having a good environment. Now we can eat and drink all we want but diseases are everywhere because of polluted environment and unsafe agro-products.

“We are farming in a way that can make the environment cleaner. One example is the method of slowly releasing fertilizers, which means we only need to apply once when the soil is tilled. The fertilizer sinks below so it is not washed away. Some other methods include thin transplantation for less disease on rice or using biological fertilizers and pesticides. It is very exciting to see that more and more fish, crabs and leeches have reappeared.

“The upcoming trend is that those who still work in the field will contract all the stages for machines to reduce costs and increase productivity. Our cooperative has the conditions and will direct farmers toward planting the same variety, one crop at a time for easy pest control, easy harvest, and easy consumption. After leaving a portion of rice for their family's consumption, the cooperative will underwrite the rest," said Lanh.