(VOVworld) – People in Doc Trau hamlet, Khanh Son district, Khanh Hoa province talk about hamlet chief Mau Xuan Duong with emotion and respect. They consider old Duong a person who was brought prosperity to the hamlet.
Duong’s spacious wood house is located at the entrance to Doc Trau hamlet. In the main hall of this house are scores of certificates, Medals, and Orders acknowledging his achievements in Vietnam’s revolution and production. But Mr. Duong says his greatest honor is the title the villagers have given him “A model hamlet chief”. Returning their warm sentiment, 75-year-old Duong has helped the villagers enjoy a better life. People in Doc Trau hamlet always consult Duong when they have to deal with important family decisions. He advises villagers to help each other and initiated rice collection to support poor villagers.
"The two old sisters Cao Thi Tham and Cao Thi Hai live together. They have no children. I encourage the villagers to donate rice to help them. Yesterday, I gave them 20 cans of rice. It’s forecast to rain in a couple of days and they would have nothing to eat." Duong said.
Due to old age, Mr. Duong can no longer do farm work but he helps other with his experience. Every morning, he takes young villagers to the experimental wet rice field organized by Khanh Son district’s Vocational Training School. Duong said farmers have to be experts in farming. They follow their ancestors in planting rice, corn, potatoes, and cassavas, but they have to know how to increase productivity and output. Mr. Duong recalls pioneering wet rice cultivation many years ago. "Previously, we worked in a cooperative. We used big hoes to dig canals to bring water to the 4-ha wet rice field. We were very happy because the rice grew well. We didn’t have any knowledge and of varieties and chemicals. Then we compared and recognized that our field didn’t grow as well as in the plain. We encouraged other villagers to grow wet rice and we had to find water sources."
Bringing water to the wet rice field was a challenge for Mr. Duong and the Raglay ethnic people of Doc Trau hamlet. The spring is 2 km from the hamlet through rolling mountains. "In the beginning, I asked Buong and Linh to go with me to check the water source. Each of us had a pack of rice. We went there to study how to bring water from Cu Teo spring across the mountain to our hamlet. I encouraged villagers to dig a canal with an average depth of 2 m."
All the households in Doc Trau hamlet helped dig the canal under the instruction of Mr. Duong. "Old people also participated. Hundreds of people worked together as merrily as at a festival. It took 1 month to finish. Any family with a rice field got involved in digging." Duong said.
After the water came to the hamlet, the rice fields expanded to nearly 20 ha. Once the people had enough rice to eat, Duong started improving land quality and adopting new varieties. They now plant cassavas, sugar cane, and corn and raise pigs and chickens. Mau Thai An is Vice Chairman of the Ba Cum Bac commune People’s Committee. "Hamlet chief Mau Xuan Duong has always taken the lead in local campaigns. He is a role model of economic development and applying scientific knowledge to production."
Mr. Duong has persuaded the villagers to abandon their backward custom of burning the forest. He is considered a perennial tree of the Raglay ethnic group in Khanh Hoa province.
Thanh Tam