Sowing knowledge, reaping golden harvests on Cuban soil

In the midst of difficulties...

Dr. Tran Vu Hai, an expert from the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute (CLRRI), is currently participating in the Viet Nam-Cuba rice production cooperation project for the 2019–2025 period. According to Dr. Hai, at 7 a.m. in Viet Nam time, equivalent to 8 p.m. in Cuba, it is the best time of day to talk, as the internet connection tends to be slightly more stable. However, despite careful planning, the call was still interrupted more than ten times due to a weak, unstable connection, like the slow, unhurried rhythm of life on this Caribbean island nation.

The place where Dr. Hai lives and works is Cienfuegos province, located in Southern Cuba. This is a dry, sparsely populated region and a lowland in terms of agricultural production. Since November 2024, Dr. Hai has been one of three CLRRI officials assigned to Cuba to support the transfer of advanced rice production technologies at the Matanzas site, which covers the three provinces of Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Mayabeque.

"There are 17 members in total participating in the project, divided among five sites. The Havana site has two officers; the Pinar site has five; the Sancti Spiritus site has three; the Camaguey site has four; and the Matanzas site, where I work, has three members, including MSc. Pham The Cuong from the Agricultural Sciences Institute of Northern Central Viet Nam, Mr. Nguyen Trung Thanh, a Spanish interpreter, and me," shared Dr. Hai.

Dr. Hai's first impression upon arriving in Cuba is the electricity shortage, as the country's fuel supply is extremely limited. He recalled that in Cienfuegos, electricity outages are almost "programmed": power is cut off for 24 hours, then restored for only 5 hours before another blackout begins.

The loss of electricity also leads to water shortages, making experts' lives extremely challenging. Most of them must take advantage of every available moment to charge their phones, power banks, and rechargeable fans, while also utilizing water jars and tanks for water storage.

Even though he lives in a town with a relatively dense population, he could hardly imagine the number and size of the mosquitoes there. "There are so many mosquitoes that you could catch an entire swarm with a single wave of your hand. In fact, one of the experts in the team was bitten so badly that he developed allergic rashes and had to return home," Dr. Hai said, likening the place to Viet Nam's rural area in the early 1990s.

The Matanzas site has a vast agricultural area of about 1.1 million ha. However, due to sparse population, a considerable portion of the land remains uncultivated. In addition to the main production activity of rice growing (around 33,500 ha), the people also grow sugarcane, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and cassava. Notably, all farmland is state-owned, and farmers do not possess private land. Each month, they receive stamps to purchase essential goods such as meat, rice, and milk.

After harvest, the rice is first stored in local warehouses before being transported to rice mills and then returned to warehouses for public distribution. The entire cycle, from harvest to when the rice reaches consumers, can take up to a year, by which time the grains have lost their whiteness and turned yellow and damp.

Sowing knowledge, reaping human affection

Overcoming numerous hardships, Vietnamese experts quickly adapted to the daily life of local communities. Rather than positioning themselves as experts, they chose to accompany the Cuban farmers.

Dr. Hai shared that Cuban people live at a calm, unhurried pace. They may say something will be done today, but it might actually happen tomorrow, the next day, or even later. At first, he and his colleagues were quite puzzled, partly because of the language barrier, which made communication with locals difficult. However, once they became familiar with and understood the local way of life, communication was no longer an obstacle.

"Now, when we share technical guidance, the farmers can understand about 50-60%. We ate together in the rice fields and talked in Spanish with our imperfect but sincere accent. We share the same worries when pests strike the rice fields and the same joy when the paddies ripen. In those moments, there is no longer any distance between Vietnamese experts and Cuban farmers, but only people with a shared aspiration to create golden harvests laden with grains on Cuban soil," Dr. Hai shared.

During a field trip with MSc. Pham The Cuong, the expert team, visited the farm of a farmer named Alexis in Aguada town, Cienfuegos province. The entire rice field had withered and turned pale just ten days after transplanting. After inspection, the Vietnamese experts identified the culprit: the golden apple snail, a pest once thought to be common only in Vietnamese paddies but now severe in Cuba. By applying control measures similar to those used in the Mekong Delta, the field revived within a week, turning green again. "Since then, the farmers have treated us like family," Dr. Hai said with a smile, unable to hide his emotion at the warmth and affection of the Cuban farmers.

Another unforgettable memory was when the team was harvesting rice seeds and received an urgent report that neighboring fields had completed land preparation, but the seeds failed to germinate. In Cuba, it usually takes nearly a month to treat and break seed dormancy before sowing. Following the traditional method would take the entire crop.

Drawing on their years of experience, the experts decided to experiment with direct sowing using freshly harvested seeds, without prior treatment. It was a risky decision, but necessary at that time. Unexpectedly, within just one week, the entire field turned lush green.

From an average yield of only 2 tons/ha previously, fields with the technical guidance of Vietnamese experts reached 5 tons/ha, reflecting not just scientific achievement but also the result of trust and sharing.

Fields of trust

When the Viet Nam–Cuba rice production cooperation project began in 2019, Cuban farmers' rice farming techniques were still simple, largely based on traditional experience, with limited application of science and technology.

"The farmers only practiced dry sowing, meaning they scattered the seeds directly onto the field and let them absorb water and germinate naturally. They also lacked knowledge of water management, so the fields would stay too dry for long periods. Weeds would grow alongside the rice, competing for nutrients and resulting in very low yields," Dr. Hai said.

This reality motivated the Vietnamese experts to patiently and promptly guide the farmers through conversations and exchanges as friends, thereby helping them gradually change their sowing methods, from soaking and pre-germinating seeds and regulating water levels to applying fertilizers at the right time to avoid losses.

In addition, to make the technical transfer more practical and easier to understand, Dr. Hai and his colleagues often organized field visits to exchange experiences. Every training session or workshop made full use of every available hour to maximize learning.

While the soil in Cuba is naturally rich in nutrients, limited infrastructure, machinery, fuel, fertilizers, and pesticides have kept rice yields low. The Viet Nam–Cuba rice production cooperation project, implemented during the 2019–2025 period, is fully funded by the Government of Viet Nam. Under this project, Vietnamese experts brought to Cuba fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, motorbikes, and other equipment, while also helping to build infrastructure to improve fields, roads, bridges, and canals. In return, the Cuban side provided accommodation, meals, and transportation for the experts during their working time.

In just three provinces of Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Mayabeque, since 2019, the project has implemented a series of effective rice production models, yielding positive and sustainable results.

The number of fertilizer applications and total nitrogen fertilizer use were reduced from 350 kg/ha to 200 kg/ha. Fields were reinforced with fixed banks and divided into smaller plots to retain water and reduce loss; sowing schedules were staggered to reduce pressure on machinery and labor; and ratoon rice models were tested, helping farmers save significantly on land preparation and fertilizer costs.

Additionally, nearly 1,500 technical exchange sessions were organized in the fields. Hundreds of Cuban farmers, extension officers, and producers were trained and practiced directly in the fields, learning modern rice cultivation techniques in crop management, fertilizer application, mechanized transplanting, and the timing of herbicide use and irrigation. With patience and dedication, these workshops became bridges connecting Cuban farmers with Vietnamese knowledge.

In terms of infrastructure, the project has built over 500 km of on-field roads, rehabilitated 528 km of canals, completed 121 bridges and irrigation works, and leveled more than 3,800 ha of  fields (of which over 3,100 ha were laser-leveled). Thanks to these efforts, once-barren fields have been revived, and the sounds of harvesters and tractors echo across lands that had long been accustomed to silence.

The certified rice seed production model (MH3), covering over 405 ha, has helped raise the average yield in Mayabeque province to 5.59 tons/ha, making it the key locality for certified seed production.

The intensive rice cultivation model (MH4), implemented on more than 3,100 ha, increased average yield to 4.7 tons/ha, turning Matanzas and Cienfuegos into the core regions for two-crop rice production.

The expanded production model (MH5), with an area of 13,000 ha and an average yield of 3.61 tons/ha, laid the foundation for Matanzas to become the main one-crop rice-producing province.

Although these models currently cover only about 1/22 of Cuba's total rice-growing area, their average yields are 2.4 times higher than those outside the project, demonstrating the effectiveness and scalability of the technical advances jointly developed and tested by Vietnamese and Cuban experts.

Cuba may not have vast rice-growing areas, but the cooperative models between Viet Nam and Cuba have become bright spots here, highly recognized by the project management board and the local media. More importantly, Cuban farmers have learned to trust in knowledge to confidently measure fields, manage water, and select seed samples, and even call one another by Vietnamese terms like “bạn,” “anh,” and “chị,” though still a bit awkwardly.

Surely, this was a truly memorable mission for the Vietnamese experts after fulfilling this noble international duty. "We will bring back a sincere and profound friendship, which is a priceless gift in today’s world, along with many stories that I have yet to finish telling you," Dr. Hai said with emotion.

The provinces of Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Mayabeque, and the rice fields stretching across Cuba will bear many imprints of Vietnamese experts. These achievements were woven from sweat shed in the fields and from tight embraces shared under the distant Caribbean sun and wind.

Cuba once welcomed Vietnamese friends during the most difficult years in the history of both nations. Today, that journey continues on the "fields of friendship."

Once, when Dr. Hai and his colleagues stood amid a ripening rice field, Cuban farmers smiled brightly, shook hands, and exclaimed, "Gracias, amigos de Vietnam!” which means "Thank you, friends from Vietnam." Just that simple phrase was enough to dissolve all fatigue and to remind him that everything they were doing on this foreign land was truly worthwhile.

Half a world away, Dr. Hai quietly sends not only project data but also the story of reviving the fields in the Caribbean region to Viet Nam. That place has the scent of ripe rice, the friendship, and the pride of Vietnamese people turning their knowledge into a gift for their homeland.