The golden period for research passion
In early June, we had the opportunity to visit Dr. Tran Tan Phuong, one of the three "fathers" of the ST25 rice variety that gives the world the best rice. Although he has officially retired since April this year, he is still researching and developing new rice varieties.
"Without this retirement time, it would be difficult to realize your dream. If not evaluated in time, the entire seed group will only be in the refrigerator," Dr. Phuong shared.
Currently, he and his team of colleagues are focusing all their efforts on evaluating more than 3,000 rice varieties collected from all over the world and more than 10,000 mixed-use combinations that they have implemented themselves over the past 20 years. Each crop, the group surveyed several hundred to thousands of groups. It is expected to take 2-3 years to complete. He believes that among them there will be outstanding varieties.
"We dream of creating rice varieties that make farmers happy like taking care of flowers. When going to the fields, finding them beautiful, fragrant, and proud is the ultimate goal of agricultural scientists," said Dr. Phuong.
Dr. Phuong said that to realize that dream, the research team always comes from the practical needs of farmers and production conditions in the fields. The new variety is only put into mass production when it is truly superior to the counterpart variety currently used by the people.
Happiness comes from the rice field
Dr. Phuong said that since 2003, he and his group of colleagues have started their breeding journey. From simple combinations of only 2-3 parents, they have given birth to varieties such as ST11, ST12. Later, each cluster had dozens of parents to integrate the fragrance, softness, resistance to pests and beautiful bean shapes. Thanks to that, ST24 and ST25 varieties were born.
"We have to overcome a huge barrier. The goal is to ensure that fragrant rice can be grown in 2-3 crops per year, for high productivity and especially resistance to pests and mosquitoes," said Dr. Phuong.
Dr. Phuong said that ST25 rice variety won the title of "World's Best Rice" in 2019 and continued to be honored in 2023 as the result of a research and evaluation process that has lasted for decades.
"This process could not have been successful without the support of Labor Hero, engineer Ho Quang Cua - who has made an important contribution to connecting with the market and feedback from production reality," Dr. Phuong affirmed.
Dr. Phuong always remembers the story of a humorous farmer who said: "Dr. Phuong made me feel beat. In the past, we grew low-yield, disease-prone rice, now with a high-priced ST25, it is resistant to pests and diseases, I don't need to push up much".
"Our biggest goal is not to be awards but to be welcomed by farmers and consumers. When they appreciate the rice varieties we create, that is the greatest happiness," Dr. Phuong expressed.
