“Rice Doctor” Vo Tong Xuan

Giving up international jobs because... Vietnamese farmers

"The prestigious award is the achievement of many generations of students and millions of Vietnamese rice farmers who have stood side by side with me for many years" is the sharing of Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan at the VinFuture award receiving ceremony. 2023. Even when standing at the peak of glory as the first Vietnamese person to be awarded the VinFuture Award, he still always thinks about rice growers.

For example, when he received a scholarship from the Philippine University of Agriculture, Professor Xuan had to choose the sugar industry, but in his heart he always wondered about the "one sun, two dew" images of rice growers in An Giang. Then in 1969, after graduating with a master's degree in Agrochemistry, he still applied to work at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to supplement his knowledge of rice.

Or in April 1975, after defending his doctoral thesis in Japan, he chose to return to serve the cause of growing rice and supporting farmers. He recounted: "At that time, I realized that this was an opportunity to quickly multiply accumulated knowledge to help rice farmers reduce the hardship... so I decided to return home without any conditions."

Most memorable was in 1976, farmers in the Mekong Delta fell into hardship when most of the contemporary high-yield rice varieties such as: TN73-2, IR26 were burned by brown planthopper biotype 2. In many places, farmers had to sell the whole set of burners, even Even an altar cabinet to save rice but to no avail. Through contact, Dr. Gurdev Khush (IRRI Institute) sent him 5 grams of IR36 rice seeds by mail. Remember, at this time the IR36 rice variety was also sent to many countries, but only in Vietnam did it create a "global reputation" thanks to Professor Vo Tong Xuan.

“The amount of rice seeds fit in an envelope. While the Mekong Delta has thousands of farmers in need. Therefore, to save farmers, I had to think of the fastest way to propagate" - Professor Xuan emotionally recalled.

He also gave birth to an agricultural extension model that had never existed globally before. That is to convince the leaders of Can Tho University to accept "closing the whole school" to send students to help farmers. Thanks to that, in just two growing seasons, the IR36 variety has covered all high-yield rice areas, and farmers have had a successful harvest.

Laying the foundation for Vietnamese rice in the international arena

In 2023, many Vietnamese people were excited when ST25 rice was crowned "World's Best Rice" for the second time. The name of engineer Ho Quang Cua is mentioned by many people as the "father" of rice, but few people know that it was Professor Xuan - the person who laid the foundation for rice to eradicate hunger - who laid the foundation for rice. foundation for high quality rice varieties to increase wealth for rice growers.

Accordingly, in 1990, after many times expressing concern about the mid-range quality of Vietnamese rice, making it difficult to break into the high-price segment in the world market, his colleagues at IRRI sent him the Khao Dawk Mali rice variety as a gift. 105 with concise information: long grain, fragrant, delicious rice... Knowing this was a promising rice variety, he immediately thought of Ho Quang Cua - a former student with a passion for rice varieties in Soc Trang. Not disappointing his teacher, after 4 years of tinkering, engineer Cua produced the first generation.

Just like that, after each improvement, the quality of rice is increasingly improved. And by the time it reached the 20th line, ST was famous throughout the country. Once again, the "foster father" Vo Tong Xuan sought to support his beloved student in bringing his "passionate child" out of the village pond.

"Worry about farmers' children"

At the age of 85, after experiencing a serious illness, his health decreased significantly, but he was still passionate about farming. "I spent the entire 2023 VinFuture bonus of nearly 6 billion VND to establish a Scholarship Fund to take care of farmers' children" - Professor Xuan expressed.

Accordingly, 2/3 of the support will go to the Vo Tong Xuan Scholarship Fund jointly founded by his former students on the 55th anniversary of the founding of Can Tho Agricultural School (1968-2023) with the purpose of supporting students. A member of staff who is passionate about the agricultural industry. The remainder is set up to create a Fund to support students who volunteer to learn foreign languages ​​to teach bilingual programs at primary schools, especially schools in rural areas...

It can be said that, even when there is no more going through the fields, wading in the fields, no more "ice tea" about growing rice with farmers, Professor Vo Tong Xuan still extends his care to farmers and their future generations. with a new mindset: farming with new knowledge and speaking Western.