Abandoned farmland: [2] An entire commune skips summer-autumn crop

Fields empty of farmers

Mr. Le Van Tam, Head of Huong Thanh Village, is still relatively young but is a respected figure in the community. In the village, very few people of his age still remain committed to fields.

Following the village merger, Huong Thanh village (Ha Linh commune, Ha Tinh province) now has more than 400 households, including about 50 hectares of rice-growing land. Yet as the summer-autumn crop gets underway, many fields no longer show the familiar sight of farmers sowing seeds or tending their crops. Instead, fields are covered with weeds and dry soil, while buffaloes and cows graze leisurely across the abandoned fields.

Bài liên quan

Abandoned farmland: [1] Weeds grow green on fertile fields

According to Mr. Tam, most people in the countryside are now elderly people and young children. The reason residents are leaving their fields uncultivated during the summer-autumn crop is not that they do not want to farm but that farming is no longer profitable. In this area, the summer-autumn crop usually falls during the dry season, when irrigation water is in short supply. Meanwhile, production costs increasingly rise. Once expenses for plowing, transplanting, harvesting, seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs are added up, farmers make no profit or may even suffer losses.

Gazing pensively at the fields covered only with weeds, Mr. Tam said the biggest challenge here remains irrigation water. Bau Nay and Khe Trai reservoirs often run completely dry during the dry season. There is not even enough water for buffaloes and cattle to drink, let alone to irrigate the fields.

To secure water for agricultural production, water would have to be diverted from the Ngan Sau River system to the fields. The route, more than 2 km long, would require investment in pipelines, pumps, and water conveyance infrastructure. However, with funding still unavailable and the village unable to undertake the project on its own, the irrigation problem remains unresolved.

Whenever a new production season begins, the busiest person in Huong Thanh village is Tam. The village head is not busy because he has to work in the fields but because he is constantly encouraging local residents to continue farming.

According to Mr. Tam, before each crop, everything from production-area planning and crop varieties to the farming calendar is clearly communicated. However, local officials still have to go to individual villages and households to encourage farmers to continue farming. Many remain hesitant, even asking frankly about irrigation water sources. This is also a concern for the village head, because there are no pumps or pumping stations, leaving farmers ultimately dependent on the weather.

The low-lying fields in Huong Thanh village can become flooded after several consecutive days of heavy rain. In some years, rice crops nearing harvest have been completely destroyed by storms. Meanwhile, during the dry season, water shortages become a problem. Farmers face two concerns, while the amount of capital required to grow a rice crop continues to increase.

Huong Thanh still has more than 20 poor households and more than 30 near-poor households. Elderly people in the countryside rely on the money their children send home each month. Meanwhile, the rice fields that once supported the entire village are becoming increasingly deserted.

Farmers losing interest

Several years ago, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, a resident of Huong Thanh village, left Ho Chi Minh City and returned to his hometown to start a new livelihood. With farmland available, he thought that as long as he worked hard, he could earn enough to make a living. However, after completing just one crop, he began to lose heart, realizing that rice farming was no longer an easy way to make a living as it once was.

Mr. Phuong said that growing a rice crop required taking care of countless expenses, including seed, fertilizer, machinery, labor, and irrigation water. Yet there is one factor in agricultural production that farmers can never predict in advance, which is the weather.

From plowing and harrowing to planting and harvesting, almost every stage has to be outsourced. Mr. Phuong estimated that in some years, when rice prices fall, farmers may spend an additional VND1-1.2 million/sao (500 m²/sao) after deducting all production costs. "If I have to take a loss just to farm, I would rather work as a hired laborer. As a construction worker, I can earn VND 450,000-500,000/day," he said.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tri Dong, Vice Chairman of the Ha Linh Commune People's Committee, the commune currently has around 600 hectares of farmland, most of it used for rice growing. However, most farmers grow only one crop a year. During the summer-autumn crop, the fields are largely left uncultivated. Mr. Dong attributed this situation mainly to a lack of irrigation water and erratic weather, which have made farmers increasingly reluctant to fields.

Mr. Dong added that Ha Linh commune currently has 25 reservoirs and dams serving agricultural production. However, only one has a capacity of more than 1 million m³, while the rest average just around 300,000 m³. Water from the reservoirs and dams is sufficient to irrigate only about 50 hectares, while the remaining area has to rely almost entirely on natural water sources.

"After the spring crop, water levels in the reservoirs and dams fall sharply. Groundwater is also scarce, making summer-autumn production extremely difficult. Without rain, there is not enough water, while prolonged heavy rain raises the risk of flooding," Mr. Dong said with concern.

Without a stable water supply, farmers are also reluctant to make substantial investments. Meanwhile, the working-age population in Ha Linh is becoming increasingly scarce. Many people have left their hometowns to work at industrial parks or construction sites or seek jobs in other localities. Such jobs may be hard, but the wages are more tangible and regular than waiting for a rice harvest.

According to Mr. Dong, the abandonment of fields during the summer-autumn crop in Ha Linh commune has been occurring for many years. Rather than trying to cultivate two crops a year, farmers have focused on the winter crop, which is gradually becoming the main production season of the year.

As of June 16, 2026, Ha Tinh province had a planned summer-autumn rice cultivation area of 45,516 hectares, of which 43,590.9 hectares had been planted, reaching 95.77% of the plan.

Notably, around 1,527 hectares had yet to be put into production. Of this area, about 289 hectares had to be converted to other crops, repurposed for other uses, or cleared for site clearance. The remaining area was left uncultivated for various reasons, including water shortages and low production efficiency.

$1 = VND 26,320 - Source: Vietcombank.