Against the grain

摘要

The prospect from Sam mountain, a rocky outcrop in southern Vietnam's Mekong delta, is timeless. Paddy fields shine emerald. Irrigation canals reflect the sunlight like mirrors. Three times a year, farmers in surrounding towns put on their rubber boots and plant rice seedlings in the deep soil. A few months later they sell their sacks of grain to traders, who bring it to riverside mills for processing. In its essence, this activity is timeless, too. Rice cultivation is deeply rooted in the Vietnamese psyche. In September 1945, a day after declaring Vietnam's independence from France, Ho Chi Minh told his cabinet that dealing with a widespread failure of the rice crop was its priority. He later collectivised the paddies. In the 1980s his successors promoted hybrid seeds and modern irrigation. Today Vietnam's $4 billion in rice exports (see chart) accounts for more than a fifth of the global total.