Staying rooted for greener crops

From plots of land overgrown with cogon grass and shrubs and scattered with rocks in the early days of reclamation, these areas have been transformed into fruit orchards and industrial crop plantations generating hundreds of millions of dong in annual income. The stories of making a living have been shared with deep emotion by residents of Dak Lua, Nam Cat Tien, Phu Vinh, Bau Ham, Dong Tam and other areas.

A farmer in Nam Cat Tien Commune stacks rocks to build a fence while clearing his field.

Choosing a flood hotspot to settle down

The land of Dak Lua has long been considered a “flood hotspot.” In return, the upstream Dong Nai River brings abundant alluvial soil to the area, making it suitable for growing various short-term crops such as rice, corn and mulberry, as well as fruit and industrial crops.

Having moved to the “flood hotspot” to make a living in 1986, farmer Hoang Van Hung, a Tay ethnic minority member from Dak Lua 1 Hamlet, said that the early years were extremely difficult for most migrant families like his, who faced severe material hardships. Trade and travel with the outside world depended entirely on ferry crossings. The most difficult situation came when someone in the family fell ill and needed emergency medical care. As a result, many people could not endure the hardships and eventually left or abandoned their land, while he chose to stay.

The historic floods in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2004 brought abundant alluvial soil to Dak Lua but also swept away much property, as vast areas were submerged, crops were flooded, and livestock and poultry were carried away. The perseverance of Hung and migrants from different parts of the country was gradually rewarded with electricity, roads, bridges, schools, health stations and irrigation works invested in by the central and local governments. Meanwhile, the fields and gardens have turned green with mulberry, rice, corn and high-value crops such as pomelo, oranges, tangerines and durian.

During the flood in 2000, 4 hectares of tangerine trees out of the 6-hectare area owned by farmer Le Van Hoang, a Kinh ethnic man from Nui Tuong Hamlet, Nam Cat Tien Commune, were completely destroyed by waterlogging. After the flood receded, Hoang and his wife started over from scratch. Today, he has become an outstanding farmer at the city level, earning more than VND1 billion a year.

In 1978, Le Van Hoang left his hometown in Dong Thap for Nui Tuong Hamlet to work as a hired laborer. He later married Nguyen Thi Ly, who was also from Dong Thap. When the local brick kilns were shut down, the couple stopped working as hired brickmakers and began clearing land to build a livelihood.

Hoang recalled that much of the land in Nui Tuong Hamlet was still undeveloped at that time. Although it was abandoned, migrants who had arrived earlier had already marked the boundaries of the land they intended to reclaim. The couple could only clear small plots covered with cogon grass and reeds, or pay a modest amount of money to acquire land that others had already claimed. Thanks to their diligence and thrift, Hoang and his wife gradually acquired a large, square-shaped 6-hectare plot just a few dozen meters from the Dong Nai River, where they planted various crops. Their lives gradually stabilized, enabling them to support their three children studying away from home and eventually become one of the better-off households in the locality.

Dak Lua Commune is approximately 160km from the administrative center of Dong Nai City (via the route from the commune to National Highway 20) and about 140km away (via the Dak Lua - Dang Ha route). Although it is far from the city’s administrative center, to facilitate residents in handling administrative procedures, developing the local economy, accessing healthcare and education, and benefiting from social welfare policies, the locality is focusing on implementing the Friendly Government model and strongly reforming the working methods of grassroots authorities, shifting from an “administrative command” approach to one based on “serving, guiding, mobilizing and persuading,” so that officials and authorities can truly stay close to the people and serve the people.

Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Dak Lua Commune People's Council PHAN VAN TUNG

Turning rocks into fields and orchards

During the migration to Dong Nai City to build a new life, ethnic groups from the northern regions such as the Tay, Nung and Dao often chose new areas with abundant rocks to settle down. According to local experience, although the soil is rocky, diligent labor and proper land improvement can still produce abundant harvests.

Along the Cay Gao - Bau Ham road in Bau Ham Commune, banana trees spread their lush green leaves, covering the rocks beneath them. Farmer Phong A Kien, a member of the Nung ethnic group from Bau Ham Commune, said that his parents migrated here to establish a new life after 1975. For vegetable crops, he only needed to clear the weeds and sow seeds in the gaps between the rocks, and the plants would still grow well without fertilizer. For tissue-culture bananas for export, however, he used excavators to remove the rocks and separate them from the topsoil before planting. With this method of land improvement, his tissue-culture banana plantation achieves yields of 50-60 tons per hectare per year, generating an average profit of VND150-200 million per hectare per year.

To turn the more than 2-hectare rocky area into the tissue-culture banana plantation as it is today, Ly A Sau, a Hoa ethnic man from Phu Tan Hamlet, Phu Vinh Commune, devoted a great deal of effort together with his father. Ly A Sau said that after clearing the land, the Hoa, Tay and Nung people in the area initially planted tobacco, rice, corn, beans, gourds, pumpkins and traditional bananas to produce food for themselves and sell at the market to earn money for essential goods. After some time, farmers began switching to other crops such as cashew, coffee, pepper and fruit trees. During cultivation, to reduce the amount of rock scattered across the surface, farmers had to stack the rocks into fences around their fields, gather them into large piles or use them to fill deep holes.

As a member of the younger generation, Le Hong Son, a Hoa ethnic man from Phu Vinh Hamlet, Phu Vinh Commune, said that with advances in science and technology and the availability of machinery, farmers now clear rocks by digging trenches 1-2 meters deep and wide along the spaces between the planned crop rows. They then put all the excess rocks back into the trenches and cover them with soil. This gives the plants more topsoil for growth, while keeping the land surface unchanged and creating drainage channels that are highly effective in carrying away groundwater during the rainy season.

The migration of 46 households from the rocky area of Bau Ham Commune to the new settlement in Lam Son Hamlet, Dong Tam Commune, in 1994 remains vivid in the memory of Vong A Phan, a Hoa ethnic man and head of Group 5 in Lam Son Hamlet. Phan recalled that the area was surrounded by forests and fields, while contact with the outside world depended entirely on trails left behind by forest workers. Diseases, malaria outbreaks, and repeated crop failures did not prevent residents from staying on the land. Once the Hoa people had made up their minds, they would persevere through hardships and difficulties, remaining on the land and building stable lives to this day.

Dong Nai City is home to many ethnic groups living together. Each ethnic minority contributes its own cultural colors, way of life and sense of solidarity to the gardens and fields of Dong Nai. For them, the early years of establishing a livelihood were difficult and arduous, but through diligent labor, most ethnic minority households soon stabilized their lives. Those who aspire to become better-off or wealthy must make the “rocks blossom” by growing industrial crops and fruit trees for export and sale in supermarkets. Therefore, their stories of building a livelihood are not merely stories of sweat and intelligence, but also of determination to rise together with their local communities and the land they call home.

By Doan Phu - Translated by Diec Quyen, Thu Ha