Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan - International-class agricultural extension house

Opening agricultural incentives for rice granaries

The story began in 1971, while his career was on the rise at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Master Vo Tong Xuan volunteered to become a lecturer at the School of Agriculture of Can Tho University (now the School of Agriculture, Can Tho University).

Because the school was newly established, he worked like a pilot. In charge of teaching 7 subjects, each year guiding 20 students to do graduation projects. Not only was he the first to compose the textbook for the subject "Propaganda" - the predecessor of today's KN subject, he also created many "C Hurricane" models. Outside of teaching hours, he and his students roll up the fields to guide farmers to stick with traditional rice crops for many generations and get acquainted with high-yield rice crops.

Affirming international class

Many KN initiatives of Professor Xuan are not only practical but also of world-class scientific scale. This is also an important key to helping him surpass 1,400 nominations from 90 countries and territories to win the VinFuture Prize 2023 for Scientists from developing countries.

In early 1976, farmers in the Mekong Delta fell into hardship when most of the contemporary high-yield rice varieties such as: TN73-2, IR26 suffered from brown moss and biotype 2. Through contact, he was sent 5gr of IR36 rice seeds by Dr. Gurdev Khush ( IRRI Institute) via post. At this time, IR36 rice varieties are also sent to many countries, but only in Vietnam can they " record a global resounding" thanks to Professor Xuan's initiative.

The amount of rice seeds was in bags. While the Mekong Delta has thousands of farmers in need, Professor Xuan has taken the initiative to come up with the fastest seedling solution: When the rice plant has 3 branches, continue to separate, then plant 1 shrimp/bunch... Thanks to that, after only 3 months, from the initial 5 grams of seeds, 2 tons of seeds have been harvested.

Here, he gave birth to a KN model that had never been seen before on the whole world: Convincing the leaders of Can Tho University to "close the whole school" so that he could be the commander-in-chief to help farmers. After rapid training for more than 2,000 students on 3 basic methods: Production, preparation of soil and rice culture techniques 1 shrimp/bunch... each group brought 1kg of rice seeds to plant in 1,000m2. Thanks to that, the entire Mekong Delta won a resounding victory.

International agricultural promotion

Not only did he lay the foundation for the domestic KN, he also contributed to the international KN. During his studies in the Philippines, he instructed local people on rice cultivation. Through wedding photos in the Philippines, he met Mrs. Quizon and her husband - a lotus owner in Bantangas. Seeing that the rice fields here are very poor due to lack of farming techniques, he volunteered to help. Every Sunday, he takes a car to make KN. Start with a few technical training sessions on rice cultivation, then bring new rice seeds to them to plant according to the correct technique, then check the fields, promptly instruct the fields to take care of the rice. Thanks to that, just 2 years later, the fields have a good harvest and have a high income.

When he reached the age of U70, he was ready to go more than half way around the world to make KN for the people of the "old land". In 2006, the Ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone in Beijing flew to Vietnam to invite Professor Xuan to help the West African country grow water rice. Vietnam is a country that is not rich but has the ability to help many other countries overcome poverty through rice cultivation - with that mindset, he boldly accepted.