Floating rice is a strange rice variety in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle, Dong Thap Muoi, people compete to buy rice.

Floating rice only appears during the flood season (also known as the flood season), occupying the largest area in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle (including An Giang, Kien Giang provinces, Can Tho city) and Dong Thap Muoi (including Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Long An).

Floating rice only appears during the flood season (also known as the flood season), occupying the largest area in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle (including An Giang, Kien Giang provinces, Can Tho city) and Dong Thap Muoi (including Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Long An).

Harvesting floating rice in Vinh Phuoc commune, Tri Ton district, An Giang province.

Clean rice seeds are traditionally grown by farmers. Since the 1980s and 1990s, people have grown a lot of them, but later on, high-yield rice varieties with higher yields and shorter life cycles have pushed out seasonal rice.

To protect the precious rice genetic resources, the Institute of Climate Change, An Giang University has successfully collected and preserved the "Rice Warehouse" that preserves the unique features of a cultural, ecological and flooded environment region of the Mekong Delta.

Alluvial rice grains

In An Giang province, the area for growing floating rice was previously more than 300,000 hectares, but now it is only about 150 hectares.

Mr. Le Tan Nam, 64 years old, living in Long Xuyen city, An Giang province, recalls the meals with the flavor of seasonal rice, the red rice grains looked very beautiful.

When washing rice to cook, the water is light red. Women do not throw away this water but use it to wash their face to help their skin become smooth and less acne-prone. Rice water is very nutritious, people add sugar and stir it for children to drink instead of milk.

In the 2023 winter-spring rice crop, we returned to the Long Xuyen Quadrangle, from a vast area of ​​clean rice, now only scattered.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, residing in Vinh Phuoc commune, Tri Ton district, was leisurely rowing a boat on a flooded field to check the height of the rice stalks. He shared that he has been growing seasonal rice for more than 20 years. Most farmers grow the Nang Tay Dum rice variety, starting to plant in June to wait for the water to rise.

Because the rice fields are still contaminated with alum, crabs and golden apple snails cannot survive, so young rice is not damaged by them. When alluvium enters, the alum soil settles down, and fresh water nourishes the rice plants to grow.

During the more than 5 months of waiting for the rice to ripen, farmers have free time to do other things. In November, when the water from the fields recedes into the river, it is also the time when the rice stalks fall down and ripen, producing golden flowers.

Mr. Dong added: "They have the advantage that no matter how high the water is, the rice still grows and grows. For months, they are soaked in water, absorbing the sweet alluvial substances and the dew of the sky, so the rice is very clean."

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hoang has 3 hectares of land for growing seasonal rice. Vinh Phuoc area is like a basin collecting flood water. When sowing rice, farmers only apply a little fertilizer in the first stage and leave the rest to let the rice grow naturally with the rain, so it is also called "heavenly rice".

With many years of experience, Mr. Hoang said that in years when this field is flooded more than 1.7m deep, the rice plants will be 2m taller, produce larger grains and produce more flowers. In years when the flood is small, the rice will produce small flowers and have lower productivity.

Because the tall rice stalks create a warm buffer zone, fish and shrimp take shelter. They eat insects and pests that destroy rice, so farmers don't have to spend time spraying to kill planthoppers. There are a lot of fish, so every few days Mr. Hoang sets up a net to catch them and eat them. At the end of the season, he collects wild fish and linh fish and sells them to traders to earn a lot of money.

Solving the problem of winter-spring rice consumption

In the 2023 rice crop, the selling price of summer-autumn rice is 16,000 VND/kg, nearly double that of regular rice, so rice farmers have a good harvest, after deducting costs, they still make a profit of more than 2 million VND per hectare (0.1 ha).

Mr. Hoang said that seasonal rice does not have a high yield like high-yield rice, but the profit is still high because farmers do not have to use fertilizers or pesticides throughout the season.

But according to him, it is important that after the harvest, farmers burn the fields and the burnt stubble of the rice stalks seeps into the soil to form a fertile layer.

From this fertile soil, he dug it up and planted cassava, while other farmers planted crops such as shallots, chili, squash... and did very well. Every year when cassava prices were good, Mr. Hoang earned a profit of more than 3 million VND per hectare...

Farmers in Vinh Phuoc commune said that thanks to that, they have a good income, but the worrying thing is that floods are currently erratic, some years the water comes late, some years the water is low, affecting the crop.

And although it is clean rice, it is difficult to sell due to its high price and it is also very picky about who eats it, so farmers must have a place to buy the product before they dare to grow it.

But without growing seasonal rice, there is no good straw to serve as a foundation for the crop. For generations, farmers in this area have been accustomed to growing one seasonal rice crop along with other crops, but the profit is no less than growing three rice crops, and farming is more leisurely.

Master Le Thanh Phong, Deputy Director of the Institute of Climate Change, has more than 10 years of research and breeding of seasonal rice, explaining that floating seasonal rice produces clean rice but is difficult to sell on a large scale, and businesses are not interested because the rice grains are a bit dry and hard to eat when cooked.

Therefore, the institute has been researching to produce a rice variety that meets the criteria: clean rice, fragrant, soft rice. And through a long period of testing with much effort and support from scientists, Mr. Phong has basically created a new fragrant variety, and is researching more flexibility to perfect it and bring it to farmers to grow.

He explained that once this difficult problem is solved, the problem of rice consumption is not a concern, clean and delicious rice is still of interest to domestic and foreign markets.

At that time, the area of ​​winter-spring rice cultivation will increase not only in An Giang province but also in other provinces and cities, increasing sustainable income for farmers.

Realizing the importance of seasonal rice, from 2013 to present, An Giang province has coordinated with the An Giang Water Management and Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCCEP), through GIZ, to implement many activities to preserve and develop the floating rice cultivation system, striving to expand the floating rice area to more than 500 hectares by 2030.

Farmers in Vinh Phuoc commune are very familiar with the image of scientists from An Giang University wading through the fields, living with farmers to research seasonal rice, select varieties and filter genetic resources.

Working closely with farmers, Mr. Phong realized that farmers were growing low-yield seasonal rice due to degenerate varieties, so he researched and successfully restored the original Nang Tay Dum rice variety.

Thanks to that, farmers harvest more than 3.3 tons/ha instead of 2 to 2.5 tons as before. Currently, the Institute of Climate Change is conserving more than 300 varieties of floating rice in the delta region including: Nang Pha, Nang Tay Dum, Tau Binh, Chech Cut, Nang Choi, Nang Chi, Bong Sen, Huong Lai... and many varieties of seasonal rice from other countries.

Master Phong compared, through analysis of indicators, it shows that summer-autumn rice contains much higher levels of vitamin B1 and vitamin E than other types of rice, and the sugar index in rice is also very low.

In addition, they contain natural organic compounds that play an important role in preventing and supporting the treatment of eye diseases, heart and lung diseases, arteriosclerosis, anti-aging...

He emphasized: “Autumn rice has many rich genes, I am passionate about research because it would be a waste to throw them away or let them die. Rice has the ability to adapt widely from alum areas to flooded areas, they have the characteristics of strong growth, sprouting many shoots, clumps, and are flood-resistant.

The seasonal rice growing area creates a clean space, a clean water source, and soil free of pesticides, thereby creating ecosystem services to serve as a foundation for restoring natural fisheries. And most importantly, preserving the seasonal rice genetic resources will preserve the soul of the flood season.

Source: https://danviet.vn/lua-mua-noi-la-giong-lua-ky-la-o-vung-tu-giac-long-xuyen-dong-thap-muoi-tranh-nhau-mua-gao-20241025155154346.htm