“The Yawning Dog Field” used to be a vast, barren, waterlogged, and overgrown field. Once famous for its poverty, now, on this very land, the people of Ninh Thanh Loi A commune, Hong Dan district, Bac Lieu have created a new miracle of dynamism and wealth.
The yawning dog field turns into "rice fields and honey fields"
“Dong Cho Ngap” is a land in Ninh Loi A commune, Hong Dan district, with an area of nearly 7 thousand hectares, with more than 7 thousand households. To have the spacious appearance as today, the people in this land have overcome many hardships. And the stories are told by the people today with pride.
In the minds of the Southern people, Canh Den is a remote place, "mosquitoes chirp like flutes, and the dish of rice noodles looks like rice noodles". Because of the "difficulty" in travel conditions, in the early days of land reclamation, people had to face many dangers.
From “mist and miasma” to mosquitoes, snakes and scorpions. All the challenges of nature in the primitive period could threaten the lives of the pioneers. Tigers, leopards and crocodiles are still haunting in the subconscious of many generations of people. This Canh Den intersection is the border between Bac Lieu and Kien Giang provinces, a place mentioned many times in research works about the pioneering period in the Southern region.
In the story “Miss Ut returns to the forest”, writer Son Nam tells the story of Mr. Huong Ca Ba in Long Tuyen village, Binh Thuy, now part of Can Tho city, who decided to marry his youngest daughter to the son of a landlord in Canh Den. Unable to stop her husband’s decision, Mrs. Ca Ba lamented: “I have a daughter, marrying her far away is useless. The land is strange and dangerous. Even the name Canh Den sounds strange...”.
Canh Den is a name that originated in ancient times. When people came here to reclaim the land, they discovered a ruined temple. Because the temple was built on a high mound, people built houses nearby to temporarily live, and by word of mouth they called it Canh Den.
Living in this area in the past centuries was very difficult. Writer Son Nam described Canh Den as “a sacred forest and poisonous water”. Many people came here to make a living, but not everyone could stay long because of the harsh reality of nature with many leeches and mosquitoes. The fields here are also known as “yawning dog” fields by the people. Many people came and then went elsewhere because they could not live in the barren, acidic land.
The "yawning dog" field used to be located at the border between the three provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang. Most of the field now belongs to the two districts of Phuoc Long and Hong Dan of Bac Lieu province. Old farmer Le Van The, in Nha Lau I hamlet, Ninh Thanh Loi A commune, said: "From ancient times, our grandparents called this the yawning dog field. From Pho Sinh to Kinh Dan Quan, nothing could be grown. Only during the rainy season did people come to hold buffaloes."
Mr. Le Trung Hieu in Nha Lau I hamlet, Ninh Thanh Loi A commune, Hong Dan district said: "In the past, people here were very poor, very poor. This was a heavy alum field, only fertile, then people came to plant bamboo, cajuput, pineapple, and then it gradually developed."
Mr. Phan Van Be, grandson of Mr. Tran Kim Tuc (also known as Mr. Chu Chot, a famous landlord in the past in this land) said: Mr. Chu Chot came down here from Soc Trang, he created 2,000 hectares of land, called Huong Chu. He was smart, he called people to gather to dig canals, build houses. The land was called by strange names in the past such as Canh Den, the yawning dog field, over time and with the will of many generations of people, it has become "rice fields and honey fields".
House incubator
The “yawning dog” fields, which were formerly wild, low-lying, saline, and full of reed grass, have now been reclaimed by people, successfully applying many new production models with high economic efficiency and sustainability such as: the “shrimp hugging rice” model; the rice - fish - shrimp model; the rice - crab - shrimp model… The number of high-rise and wall-house hamlets is increasing. The list of “reed billionaires” keeps getting longer over the years.
The important milestone of this spectacular transformation originated from the policy of sweetening the Ca Mau peninsula, which was directed by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. The canal combined with the Quan Lo Phung Hiep road was newly dug and expanded, bringing fresh water from the Hau River to the small canals Mot Ngan, Hai Ngan, Ba Ngan, helping to remove acidity, wash away alum, and sweeten this land.
Old farmer Nguyen Van Thuong in Nha Lau I hamlet, Ninh Thanh Loi A commune, Hong Dan district, Bac Lieu province recalls: In 1995, the government allowed the digging of canals, at that time people were planting bamboo and pineapples. It was not until 2000 that shrimp farming was started, and thanks to successful shrimp farming, people were able to develop. Thanks to shrimp, then rice and shrimp crops, people here are more developed than other places. There are shrimp, rice, and then giant freshwater prawns. Thanks to the policy of sweetening the Ca Mau peninsula, people are diligent and enthusiastic in working, and are quick to find suitable models, and the yawning fields of the past are now golden land, and people have stabilized their lives.
“Everybody in the sweetened area of the Ca Mau Peninsula is very proud and grateful to Mr. Kiet. The rural electrification program, since 2000, Mr. Kiet has also brought it here, before that it was only on the main axis, but later it was developed everywhere,” Mr. Thuong excitedly shared.
Having removed the acidity and washed away the alum, the local people began to seek ways to develop their economy. First was the pineapple growing model, then the shrimp farming model, and the combined rice-shrimp model. Every year, Ninh Thanh Loi A carries out one rice crop and two main shrimp crops, combined with giant freshwater prawn farming. If in the past, rice yield was only a few bushels per hectare, now, rice in Ninh Thanh Loi A has a yield of 30-40 bushels per hectare.
Mr. Phan Thanh Sung - Secretary of the Party Committee of Ninh Thanh Loi A Commune, Hong Dan District, Bac Lieu Province said that the life of Ninh Thanh Loi A people developed from the shrimp farming model, then rice cultivation and shrimp farming. This is a very favorable and sustainable model that contributes to the development of people's lives.
“What is special is that Ninh Thanh Loi A produces 2 shrimp and 1 rice. When raising shrimp, it creates fertility and therefore, when growing rice, people do not need to use fertilizers and pesticides, so the rice is very delicious. This is also a model that adapts to climate change, so people boldly apply it. The model is assessed by experts as very stable, so people also expand it, contributing to helping people increase their income on the same unit of area,” Mr. Sung added.
With high income, in addition to reinvesting in production and saving to build houses, people focus on their children's education. The school named Nha Lau is the most vivid proof. Previously, a high-rise building was just a dream of the people, but now it has become a reality and is also an administrative unit of the commune. And the people here are also proud to live in "Nha Lau hamlet" as it is in reality - tall and spacious houses.
“In implementing the tourism development program of Hong Dan district, the sites of Nha Lau and Chu Chot will also be deployed to be included in the tourism development tour. This is also a way to contribute to promoting the value of these relics and sites,” said Mr. Phan Thanh Sung, Secretary of the Party Committee of Ninh Thanh Loi A commune.
In the early spring story in Nha Lau hamlet, business and plans for the future were discussed enthusiastically by the villagers. The yawning dog fields of the past are now rice fields and shrimp ponds. The Canh Den area, where mosquitoes chirp like flutes, is now a prosperous land, and the villagers' lives are very comfortable.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/ky-tich-tren-canh-dong-cho-ngap-10301402.html
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