Rice padi fields in Vietnam
Driving to site, through rural, Central Vietnam my attention is turning to an important aspect of our project-the re-introduction of traditional, working Rice Padi fields. Our intention is to turn the allocated land back over to the local villagers for them to once again use the land bordering several golf holes as a functioning, profitable rice crop area. We will also have the benefit of great features travelling the length of several holes where, we hope, traditional farming techniques can be observed as part of the golf experience.
Thanks to Wikepedia I have added a short history of rice farming in Vietnam-
Rice fields in Vietnam (ruộng, cánh đồng or điền in Vietnamese) are the predominant land use in the valley of the Red River and the Mekong Delta. In theRed River Delta of northern Vietnam, farmers must dam up (nowadays 3000 km long) against the annual flood, and it is also the necessary condition to form an alliance among Vietnamese ancient tribals to found Vietnamese people‘s first state. In the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam, there is an interlacing drainage and irrigation canal system that has become the symbol of this area and impacts on the lifestyle of local people. In Northwestern Vietnam, Thai people built their “valley culture“ based on the economic foundation of glutinous rice upland fields.
The primary festival related to rice fields is “lễ hạ điền” (Vietnamese)/“lồng tồng” (Tay language) in the first day of every crop wishing for yield more than usual. In the past, this was the official national ceremony that the King would make the first plough and people would worship Than Nong (god of agriculture), thổ địa (god of the soil), thành hoàng làng (god of the village), and thần lúa (god of rice plants).
During the Trần Dynasty, there were three kinds of rice field: ruộng quốc khố (national budget rice field) with 3 levels, ruộng thác điền with 3 levels (the name derives from a story about Lê Phụng Hiểu. He refused the King’s present for his feat of arms but required that how far he would throw his knife would be how wide of a rice field he could possess. Since then, it’s become the name of rice field for rewarding Vietnamese mandarins: thác đao- abbreviation: thác- throw the knife and điền- rice field), and ruộng ao of the common people.
In Vietnamese literature, a rice field is described as wide enough for a flock of storks to span their wings across: “đồng lúa thẳng cánh cò bay” and the sway of rice plants in the wind is compared to waves of the sea and called “sóng lúa“. These images are very common phrases describing the beauty of the Vietnamese landscape.
Have you ever considered the maths involved in Padi field farming? Malcolm Gladwells book ‘Outliers’ gives you an amazing insight into Asian culture, maths excellence and work ethic. An extract below, but please read the book!
A great point Gladwell makes is that cultures with a history of rice cultivation also have high levels of diligence. Because rice is so labor-intensive on plots far smaller than corn or wheat for example, rice farmers have been forced to increase yields by being smarter and more innovative. As Gladwell writes:
“Working in a rice field is ten to twenty times more labor intensive than working on an equivalent size corn or wheat field.”
Because rice cultivation forces greater innovation, the nature of the work is far more challenging and complex. It’s also more meritorious, because the harder you work, the greater the harvest. That’s why strict feudalism or slavery doesn’t work with rice cultivation, Gladwell writes,
Finally, a Chinese proverb connected to Rice production- ‘No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.’