Dien Bien Farm: An epic song from fields

The Dien Bien basin, like a colossal cauldron hanging for a thousand years, holds legends and the blood of many generations. Humanity seems small against this majestic, pristine space, where a fierce anti-colonial battle against the French took place more than 70 years ago. At the heart of this basin, Dien Bien Farm once fed soldiers during the war and now thrives in verdant abundance. Thanks to it, Muong Thanh rice has achieved a reputation on par with Hai Hau's Tam Xoan rice, making it the rice granary of this peaceful and poetic Muong land.

The veteran and Uncle Ho's instruction at Bat Bat, Son Tay

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Mr. Pham Tien Manh, who lives at 14 Quyet Tien street, Dien Bien Phu ward, Dien Bien province, and formerly served as Deputy Director of Dien Bien State Farm (1989–1994), took me to meet veteran Pham Phu Thuyen (95 years old), a native of Thai Binh and a former Dien Bien soldier of Regiment 176, Division 316. After the liberation of Dien Bien, he was among 1,933 members of Division 316 entrusted by Uncle Ho with the mission of staying in Dien Bien to strengthen national defense, safeguard the border, and establish a production farm.

Speaking slowly, he recalled, "After the liberation of Dien Bien, our entire Division 316 remained to carry out the task of building the Dien Bien State Farm. On March 10, 1958, at Bat Bat (Son Tay), during a visit to our unit, Uncle Ho kindly told us, 'I trust you, who have the tradition of solidarity and discipline to gain victory at Dien Bien Phu. From now on, you must set a new determination, return to Dien Bien, overcome all hardships, and build Dien Bien into a prosperous land for the country.'

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Uncle Ho further reminded us that building the farm was a new work, requiring strong solidarity within the unit and with localities, and selection of good plant and animal varieties suitable for the land. Fighting imperialists means facing a single enemy. However, there are many enemies in agriculture, such as weather, pests, and crop diseases. Fighting these agricultural enemies is even more complicated than fighting the colonists; you must be prepared to fight and to win."

Following the instructions of Uncle Ho and General Vo Nguyen Giap, Regiment 176 left Son Tay on March 18, 1958, and marched to Dien Bien. After nearly a month of continuous marching, the regiment arrived in Dien Bien on April 1, 1958, quickly setting to building barracks, clearing land for production, and preparing all necessary conditions for the establishment of the farm.

On April 8, the unit held the inauguration ceremony of the Dien Bien Military Farm, pursuant to a decision by the General Staff, with the participation of 1,954 officers and soldiers. At that time, each company of the regiment became a production unit of the farm, distributed among the villages and communes across the Dien Bien basin and designated from C1 to C22.

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"The mission of the farm at that time was to train and remain combat-ready while simultaneously clearing mines, reclaiming land, improving fields, boosting production, and guiding Dien Bien's ethnic communities to develop production and stabilize their lives. In the 1958-1960 period, despite overwhelming hardship, the farm harvested its first crop with 248 tons of rice, planted 13,000 rubber trees, and raised nearly 1,000 head of cattle, which was a miracle on land once ploughed up by bombs," veteran Thuyen recalled.

Mrs. Vu Thi Dat (now 85 years old), veteran Thuyen's wife, was also a worker at Dien Bien State Farm. In 1959, she followed her husband to Dien Bien and worked in production team C14. "The movement of bringing wives, children, and youth volunteers to the farm kept growing. Many young women from Thai Binh and Hanoi volunteered to come and help build a new homeland.

In 1960, the farm was officially renamed Dien Bien State Farm. With over 2,300 staff and workers, they reclaimed hundreds of additional hectares of land, planted 450 hectares of coffee, built agro-product processing workshops, and diversified production sectors.

During this period, the farm also successfully bred high-yield, drought- and pest-resistant rice varieties Dien Bien 1 and Dien Bien 2. The General Staff even selected these varieties as gifts to Cuba," Mrs. Vu Thi Dat recounted.

The farm on the former battlefield

According to veteran Thuyen, in the 1960-1965 period, to meet the mission requirements, the General Staff officially renamed the unit Dien Bien State Farm, placing it under the management of the Ministry of Farm. The farm's primary mission was land reclamation and the production of food and agricultural products.

At that time, the farm had a workforce of 2,300 organized into 23 production teams. From 1958 to 1964, the farm reclaimed an additional 800 hectares of land, raising the total production land area to 1,908 hectares. By 1964, the farm’s food output had reached 1,748 tons. It also planted 450 hectares of coffee and built processing workshops for coffee, sugarcane, and rice.

From 1965 to 1969, the farm simultaneously maintained production and stood ready to fight against the U.S. empire’s bombing war. To fulfill its mission, the farm relocated its headquarters to Hoong Khoong (Thanh Xuong commune, former Dien Bien district) and reorganized its production activities. Farmworkers had to stay on the fields to produce crops while also being prepared for combat. The province equipped the farm with a battalion-level arsenal, including an infantry battalion, an artillery battalion, 12.7 mm and 14.5 mm artillery, and a 37 mm anti-aircraft gun, forming a 24/7 air defense unit on constant combat readiness.

Despite the fierceness of the war, with determination and dedication, the farm’s officers and workers lit torches to plow fields through the night to meet planting deadlines. Movements flourished at the time with slogans such as "When the enemy comes, we fight; when the enemy leaves, we produce," "Each person works twice as hard for our compatriots in the South," "three-ready youth," and "three-capable women."

Mr. Pham Tien Manh, former Deputy Director of Dien Bien State Farm, recalled: "In 1970, the farm was placed under the management of the former Lai Chau province. Waves of labor recruitment from Hung Yen, Hai Duong, and Thai Binh continued, while production teams kept expanding cultivation areas and delivering thousands of tons of grain, meat, coffee, and sugar to the province."

In the 1976-1984 period, the farm restructured according to a new plan, focusing on tung oil trees, maize, and rice varieties. As the subsidy period came to an end and the market economy opened up, the farm became one of the pioneers in contracting production outputs and land, marking the first steps toward the Doi Moi era.

Over more than three decades of existence and growth (1958–1994), Dien Bien State Farm accomplished what once seemed impossible: turning a battlefield into an economic region, turning an "agricultural battle" into a historic campaign. This land bears not only the footprints of soldiers but also the memory of a glorious era when farmers, workers, and soldiers became one, building a Dien Bien that is not only heroic in victory but also proud in its peacetime construction.

Muong Thanh rice granary

Muong Thanh valley, covering about 140 km² and encircled by blue-green mountains, has long been the rice granary that has sustained generations of local ethnic communities. Once a fierce battlefield, Muong Thanh fields are now painted with the lush green of rice and the yellow hue of each harvest crop.

Dividing Muong Thanh fields is the Nam Rom River, which once buried the invader's ambitions and was scarred by bombs, now transformed into a lifeline. Only with the construction of the Nam Rom large-scale irrigation structure did the river fulfill its mission as the green lung and backbone of the Dien Bien basin.

Nearly a decade after the Dien Bien Phu Victory, more than 2,000 youth volunteers from all three regions of Vietnam gathered here to build Pa Khoang Reservoir, creating the largest irrigation project in the Northwest at the time. Thanks to this irrigation system, the cultivated area on the Muong Thanh field continued to expand.

In 1984, Dien Bien province had just under 2,400 hectares of two-crop rice; by 2017, that figure had surpassed 7,000 hectares. From a land with year-round food shortages, Dien Bien has risen to become a food supplier for other provinces. This transformation, from lacking rice to being food self-sufficient and from hardship to sustainability, was created by the sweat and aspirations of generations of Dien Bien farmers, with the Dien Bien State Farm as its starting point.

Young farmers like Quan Ba Toi of Thanh Yen commune, which is the "capital" of Dien Bien rice, are continuing the dream of bountiful harvests. Toi was the pioneer who founded the Thanh Yen Agricultural Service Cooperative (Thanh Yen Cooperative), specializing in producing rice under the Dien Bien brand. In the beginning, he had to go door-to-door persuading villagers to contribute land and join the linkage model, with only four or five households agreeing at first. From an initial 20 hectares, the number gradually grew to 10, then 15 participating households, and today Thanh Yen Cooperative has nearly 60 member households with an area of nearly 100 hectares.

Dien Bien rice is now available not only in traditional markets but also on the shelves of supermarkets such as VinMart and Metro. Toi shared that in 2020 alone, Thanh Yen Cooperative sold 120 tons of rice through supermarket channels, which is an impressive achievement for a land that was once a battlefield in 1954.

From deeply plowing, many Dien Bien farmers have now mastered modern cultivation machinery, techniques, and technologies. Farmer Vu Thi Hoa from Thanh Nua commune shared, "Rice production here is now fully mechanized, with outstanding productivity. Delicious rice varieties such as IR64, Tam Xoan, and Seng Cu are carefully selected to form stable production areas. This is the result of applying science and technology to rice production. Compared to the time when our parents were still workers at the Dien Bien State Farm, today's farming is far more efficient and much easier."

Ms. Chu Thi Thanh Xuan, Deputy Director of the Dien Bien Department of Agriculture and Environment, said the Provincial Party Committee has tasked the department with developing a plan to protect the Muong Thanh field – a valuable production material of the former State Farm. One of the key goals is to preserve the integrity of the field, prevent the encroachment of farmland, and gradually transition to a large-field production model, ensuring synchronized green growth and uniform ripening to enhance rice quality.

Following the long flow of history, the C1 to C22 units of the former Dien Bien State Farm have now become today's production teams with familiar, evocative names. And the spirit and the story of soldiers transforming into farmers remain intact. On Dien Bien's soil today, the bountiful harvest seasons are more than agricultural products; they are the embodiment of patriotism, the mark of unyielding resilience, and the pride that forged the legendary victory of Dien Bien Phu.

It is now the rainy season in the Northwest, and the Muong Thanh field is in its lush, green prime, stretching endlessly like an epic that connects the trenches of war to fields. The soldier of yesteryear has become a memory. The battlefield has turned into yellow ripening rice fields. Every grain of Dien Bien rice is a testimony of time, sweat, blood, and aspiration. The former Dien Bien State Farm not only brought bountiful harvests but also sowed the seeds of a peace that continues to blossom on this land.