Nation-building irrigation: Awakening the Red River Delta

President Ho Chi Minh's ideology on irrigation development

In Ho Chi Minh's thought, developing irrigation to serve agriculture has always held a particularly important role and position in the growth of the economy, society, and the livelihoods of farmers.

President Ho Chi Minh once emphasized, "Vietnam has the word for 'Fatherland'; we also call the Fatherland the country. Only with both land and water can a Fatherland truly exist. Where there is land and water, the people are prosperous and the nation is strong." Over the past 80 years, the development of irrigation has always been a concern for the Party, the State, and our people.

Even during the anti-French resistance, President Ho Chi Minh paid attention to restoring and developing the nation’s agriculture, with irrigation being the most critical task.

On February 29, 1948, he presided over a Government Council meeting to issue resolutions on several matters, including agricultural irrigation, repairing and dredging gutters, constructing additional dikes and gutters in Phu Tho and Thai Binh provinces, continuing the installation of water pumps in Do Luong, and researching and installing bamboo water pipes in Viet Bac for the 1948 spring crop. In February 1949, President Ho Chi Minh chaired a Government Council meeting to establish the Agricultural Irrigation Council to serve dike and agricultural irrigation works.

In early 1957, President Ho Chi Minh visited Site No. 7, a major irrigation project in Ha Dong province (now part of Hanoi). Speaking to nearly 2,000 officials and laborers on site, he said, "We have the fields; we must turn them into rice. To have rice, we must plant rice; for good rice, we need sufficient water, ample fertilizer, and quality seeds. Therefore, we must develop irrigation and strive to be self-sufficient in irrigation and drainage."

Bac Hung Hai –  "Golden dragon" awakening a vast delta

To address the problems of "ten years, nine droughts" and "living soaked in mud, dying soaked in soil" in Hai Duong, Hung Yen, and Bac Ninh provinces, the Party and State decided to construct the Bac Hung Hai major agricultural irrigation system. This system of canals, dams, pumping stations, and dikes serves irrigation and flood drainage for a water quadrangle bounded by the Red River to the west, the Duong River to the north, the Thai Binh River to the east, and the Luoc River to the south. Each province and city of Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, and Hai Duong has its territory within this quadrangle.

The total length of the main canal system is 200 km. Irrigation water is primarily drawn from the Red River through the Xuan Quan weir, while drainage is mainly conducted via the Cau Xe and An Tho weirs. Additionally, several pumping stations provide direct irrigation and drainage in narrow areas along the Duong, Luoc, and Thai Binh rivers.

On October 1, 1958, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong broke ground at the Xuan Quan weir construction site (Hung Yen), marking the start of the Bac Hung Hai major agricultural irrigation project. After only seven months of construction, on May 1, 1959, the Bac Hung Hai irrigation system was completed beyond expectations, handling a massive workload: 7,500 m³ of concrete poured, 226,000 m³ of stone pavement laid, and nearly 3,000,000 m³ of soil excavated. The project ensured water supply for over 10,000 ha of rice, crops, and industrial plants, and drainage for nearly 20,000 ha of basin areas.

During the preparation and construction of this irrigation system, President Ho Chi Minh personally visited four times to inspect, encourage, and support the officials and laborers on site. On one occasion, despite heavy rain and muddy roads, he visited workers digging the water canal outside Xuan Quan weir.

Speaking to around 30,000 laborers, workers, and officials on site, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized, "Building the Bac Hung Hai major irrigation project is a campaign. In this campaign, we must have the spirit of decisive struggle and decisive victory. Party members, youth union members, workers, and officials must set an example. We must strive to ensure sufficient water for the upcoming spring crop to succeed and bring prosperity to our people." Indeed, President Ho Chi Minh's wish became reality.

According to Mr. Trinh The Truong, Chairman of the Board of Bac Hung Hai Irrigation Management Co., Ltd., the construction of the Bac Hung Hai irrigation system is a national objective, meeting the irrigation and drainage requirements necessary for agricultural production.

Not only did the people in the "Bac Hung Hai quadrangle" face droughts, but they also often suffered from failed spring crop, with farming entirely dependent on nature. During the spring crop, there was not enough water for plowing, and even after transplanting, farmers had to "pray for rain." In 1995, the average rice yield was extremely low, only around 1.3 tons/ha.

The encouraging news is that once the Bac Hung Hai irrigation system was put into use, wherever the water flowed, local people expanded their farming areas, and rice yields and production steadily increased. Today, the average rice yield in the areas served by the system exceeds 6 tons/ha/year. Many liken Bac Hung Hai to the "golden dragon" that has awakened a vast delta region.

Mr. Nguyen Van Kinh, Deputy Director of the Hung Yen Department of Agriculture and Environment, also shared that the Bac Hung Hai system plays a crucial role for agricultural production in Hung Yen province in particular and in four provinces within the system's service area in general.

The Nam Ha flood-prone area becomes a fertile rice granary

At the 1959 Northern Vietnam Irrigation Conference, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized, "Irrigation must be a movement of the entire people. Communes with communes, districts with districts, and provinces with provinces are interconnected; we must work together, discuss together, and unite to help one another. We should not focus solely on local benefits while causing losses elsewhere." He particularly highlighted the Government's guiding principles: prioritizing water retention, small-scale irrigation, and people’s self-reliance in construction.

Following the success of the Bac Hung Hai irrigation system, many other agricultural irrigation projects in Northern Vietnam received increased investment. Notably, the Bac Nam Ha electric pumping station system was established to resolve flooding issues in the "flood-prone areas" of Ha Nam and former Nam Dinh provinces (now part of Ninh Binh province).

Our ancestors had a saying, "Nam Sang fairy man even refuses the spring sticky rice," illustrating the hardships faced by people in this region during natural disasters.

According to agronomist Bui Huy Dap in his book "Stories of Idioms and Proverbs," Nam Sang was an ancient district in the Nam Dinh spring rice plain, encompassing the low-lying fields of Ly Nhan and Binh Luc districts in Ha Nam province (now part of Ninh Binh province). In the past, this area could only grow the spring rice crop, while other crops failed due to widespread flooding, making transportation possible only by boat.

To solve the flooding problem and help locals increase crop intensity, despite the Northern region suffering heavy losses during the fierce resistance, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam requested support from the Soviet Government to reclaim these lowlands.

In response, a team of Soviet experts came to conduct surveys and studies. In 1962, for the first time, the entire northern area of the former Nam Ha province was studied and planned for water drainage to develop agricultural production, known as the 1962 Plan.

Based on local terrain conditions, the 1962 Plan (the predecessor of the Bac Nam Ha irrigation system) identified about 77,500 ha of low-lying land that could only grow one spring rice crop and required mechanical drainage. The remaining nearly 7,900 ha, including six communes in the northern area of Ly Nhan district, Ha Nam province (around 2,400 ha), and the Doc Bo area of Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province (around 5,500 ha), are higher grounds that could drain naturally into the Chau and Day Rivers.

From 1964 to 1972, with assistance from the Soviet Government, six large electric pumping stations were constructed by the State, including Coc Thanh, Co Dam, Huu Bi, Vinh Tri, Nham Trang, and Nhu Trac, forming the Bac Nam Ha Six-Pumping Station System, also known as the Bac Nam Ha irrigation system.

Pointing to a map of the Bac Nam Ha irrigation system, Mr. Tran Van Dung, Deputy Director of Bac Nam Ha Irrigation Management Co., Ltd., showed how the irrigation canals appear like walls of water, tirelessly protecting the lowest-lying areas of the Northern Delta from nature's "fury." He said, "Every time there is heavy rain, the system is activated, pumping water rapidly to prevent flooding across the entire region."

Building water reservoirs in the midlands and mountains

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Van Thanh, former Director of the Institute for Irrigation Resources Planning under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, noted that from 1961 to 1975, many reservoirs were built in the midland and mountainous regions to store water during the rainy season, mitigate floods, and supply irrigation and domestic water. A notable example is the Nam Rom reservoir in Dien Bien province, completed in 1963.

From 1965 to 1975, irrigation had to simultaneously protect, camouflage, and repair existing works while focusing on developing irrigation in the midland and mountainous regions. This period witnessed significant sacrifices by irrigation officials and local people in the process of safeguarding and constructing irrigation projects.

Many systems and projects were constructed, including Nui Coc Reservoir (Thai Nguyen province), Cam Son Reservoir (former Bac Giang province, now Bac Ninh province), Dong Mo Reservoir (former Vinh Phuc province and Hanoi, now part of Hanoi City), Song Muc and Nui Mot Reservoirs (Thanh Hoa province), Vach Bac drainage canal (Nghe An province), and Trung Thuan Reservoir (former Quang Binh province, now Quang Tri province).

Additionally, the irrigation sector built structures that combined electricity generation with irrigation, drainage, and flood prevention for the Red River Delta. By 1975, Northern Vietnam had completed and put into operation more than 1,300 irrigation works, capable of irrigating 1.1 million ha and draining 720,000 ha.