Do You Know How Vietnamese People Cultivate Wet Rice? Some 70
per cent of Vietnam’s population is engaged in agriculture,
which uses over 20 per cent of the country’s area and produces
15 per cent of its GDP. Vietnam has two huge deltas: the Mekong
in the south and the Red River in the north. From time
immemorial the Vietnamese have known how to build dykes and
avoid flooding, creating more land for wet –rice cultivation.
Thousands of kilometres of dykes have been built along the Red
River to protect this vast fertile delta and its population.
Recently my friend Huong Do and I visited her uncle, who is a
farmer in Hai Duong province in the very heart of the Red River
delta. The host, Mr. Hien, was very enthusiastic about showing
us rural life. Generally they cultivate two types, sticky rice
and ordinary rice. The first is used for special events and
ceremonies such as Tet ( lunar New Year) and weddings. Talking
about wet-rice-cultivation, Mr. Hien recites a Vietnamese
proverb:’Nhat nuoc, nhi phan, tam can, tu