According to the perception of the highlanders, mother rice has a lot of nutrients, is delicious, and has a fatty taste. It is best used to make porridge, especially good for the elderly who are sick... As the garden owner said, "as soon as the neighbor cooks porridge with mother rice, the next house will smell the irresistible aroma".
Traditional features of the highlanders
It is the rainy season, so every piece of land in the high mountains of Phan Son and Phan Lam (Bac Binh district) is covered with lush green vegetation. In the spacious garden of Mr. Mang Khanh's family (Ta Moon village, Phan Son commune), there are many types of plants such as elephant grass, corn, banana, especially the appearance of the lush green color of the mother rice that was sown more than a month ago.
Mr. Mang Khanh led me to a spacious garden with many types of plants. He showed me a garden of about 20 square meters of mother rice, which had been green for more than a month. Mr. Khanh shared that for decades, his family has maintained the tradition of growing mother rice, because it is considered a "pearl" of heaven. Every year, usually in June of the solar calendar, when the rainy season begins, it is also the time when people prepare the land and sow seeds. Mother rice is grown by sowing sprouts, relying on rainwater and without spraying pesticides.
Mr. Khanh said that in the past, each household produced 2-3 sao of mother rice, but at this time, almost every household has reduced the area, only growing enough for their own use. The rice will be harvested in November and December, which is also the time of the New Year of Rice Festival of the local Raglay and K'ho people. According to the garden owner, mother rice is very easy to grow, just sow and clean the weeds, and occasionally fertilize. With this small area, it is expected to harvest more than 20 kg of rice. After bringing the rice home, each family will cook new rice for offerings. At the same time, 2-3 kg will be set aside to make rice seeds for the next season. The rest of the rice is used to cook porridge.
Mr. Mang Ngoc Van (born in 1959 in self-governing group No. 2, Phan Lam commune), a prestigious village elder in the locality, shared: For decades, his family has been growing mother rice as a way to preserve tradition, which cannot be abandoned. Mr. Van said that in the past, people mainly grew upland rice, including many types of rice, but only offered mother rice. Through the ups and downs of time, the area of mother rice in the highlands of Phan Lam and Phan Son has decreased a lot, but people still preserve this fine tradition.
Preserve value
Mr. K' Bay - Chairman of Phan Son Commune People's Committee shared: After reviewing, in Phan Son Commune, there are currently about 20 households growing mother rice. Of which, the largest household grows about half a sao, the smallest household grows 20 m2. Mr. Bay said that currently, the locality is still promoting the preservation of mother rice cultivation to maintain customs.
As for orienting it to become a local specialty product, Chairman of the People's Committee of Phan Son Commune said that it is very difficult because the mother rice plant has a long growing period, is cared for and weeded by hand, and does not use pesticides, so the mother rice is considered a clean, high-quality, delicious agricultural product. In particular, the rice grains of the mother rice are very delicious when cooked into porridge. When harvesting, if there is any surplus, people will keep it to sell to other households for seeds and offerings, at a fairly high price, about 30,000 VND/kg.
According to research in the two highland communes of Phan Lam and Phan Son, it is known that the mother rice variety is very precious to the Raglai and K'ho ethnic people. When cooked, the mother rice grains will expand, become spongy, and have a sweet and fragrant taste. The mother rice variety has a very strong vitality and the rice grains have a characteristic milky white color and are different from other rice varieties. However, currently, only a few ethnic households still grow mother rice on a small area. This is also the reason for the degeneration of genetic resources, causing both productivity and quality to decrease significantly.
Mother rice - the "pearl" of heaven, despite many different reasons, has gradually narrowed its production area. But in the life of the K'ho and Raglay people, mother rice grown in the fields is still closely associated with the life and spirituality of the people. It not only serves daily life but is also one of the unique cultural customs that has been, is and will continue to be maintained over time...
It is known that on December 7, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued a decision approving the results of the selection of the scientific and technological task "Restoring mother rice varieties and building an organic farming model according to the value chain in mountainous communes of Binh Thuan province". The unit in charge of implementing the task is the Southern Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology. The project is implemented in 36 months with the goal of restoring mother rice varieties and building an organic farming model according to the product consumption chain to increase the economic value of mother rice varieties and improve the lives of people in mountainous communes of Binh Thuan province.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/lua-me-hat-ngoc-cua-troi-123164.html
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