Vitality of plantation: Putting down pens and picking up hoes

Spirit of reclamation day

Immediately after the country's reunification in September 1975, the leadership of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) issued a policy to establish the New Economic Committee to reclaim and rehabilitate former resistance base areas. Shortly thereafter, six new economic zones were set up, one of which was Le Minh Xuan Farm in the former Binh Chanh district (now Tan Loi commune, Ho Chi Minh City). This area had been the Lang Le–Bau Co base, renowned during the resistance war.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan (born in 1955) joined the HCMC youth volunteer force and went to Le Minh Xuan Farm from its earliest days. She recalled, "In March 1976, HCMC marked an important event as thousands of youth volunteers got ready to depart for the new economic zones, reclaiming tracts of fallow land."

Particularly, these young men and women came from diverse classes: labor workers, demobilized soldiers, civil servants of the former regime, revolutionary youth, students and pupils, and even some who had been idle or entangled in social vices under the former regime. Mrs. Xuan herself had been a literacy teacher before becoming a youth volunteer.

On the day of departure, the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, who was Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee at that time, arrived early, gave a speech of encouragement, and handed the Youth Union flag bearing the words 'Wherever there is a need, there is a youth. Wherever there is difficulty, there is a youth' to Mr. Pham Chanh Truc, Secretary of the City Youth Union, amid the resounding applause of thousands of youth.

After receiving their tasks, the teams set off. In the new economic zone of Binh Chanh district alone, about 1,200 young people were organized into four teams, alongside hundreds of resettled households who voluntarily went to reclaim the land and develop the new economic zones in Le Minh Xuan and Pham Van Hai communes. Team 1 was tasked with working in the Le Minh Xuan commune.

Here, thousands of people worked day and night to dig irrigation canals, flush acid from the soil, build dikes, prevent waterlogging, and construct roads. "As a city girl who only knew how to hold pen and paper, it was the first time I held a hoe and a crowbar, carried bamboo, and built house walls under the scorching sun. Life lacked everything, with no houses, no clean water, and only acid water. In the first days, unaccustomed to heavy labor, my hands and shoulders blistered, and I wanted to quit. But when I saw how concerned and supportive everyone was, I gave up that idea," Mrs. Xuan shared.

After more than a year of stabilizing the population in the new area, in April 1977, Le Minh Xuan commune was officially established. Two months later, Le Minh Xuan Farm was founded, along with Pham Van Hai Farm, under the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture. The youth volunteer force was formally organized, becoming workers of the Le Minh Xuan State Farm. In the following months, a series of irrigation canals and dams were built, such as the Thay Cai canal and Ba Gia canal, as well as the Ca Tre Nho dam, Vam Nuoc Duc dam, and Cay Bang dam.

When first established, the farms were assigned to create an economic breakthrough, with a priority on quickly transforming most of the land in Le Minh Xuan commune into a green belt. After ten years, the once-barren land gradually turned from white to green with fields of pineapple and sugarcane.

However, due to limitations in farm management and operations, such as ineffective acid soil treatment, many sugarcane and pineapple plants died or failed to thrive, forcing repeated replanting. Production planning was incomplete, labor productivity was low, and material resources were wasted. These shortcomings led to losses, leaving the farm in debt, thereby forcing it to scale down operations and eventually hand over land to the commune government for management. Ultimately, Le Minh Xuan Farm was merged into Pham Van Hai Farm and later converted into the Crop Seed Company under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture. The state farm model had completed its historical mission, and Le Minh Xuan commune became a regular commune under Binh Chanh district.

A spectacular transformation

Today, the name Le Minh Xuan no longer exists, as the commune was renamed Tan Loi after the merger. The traces of Le Minh Xuan Farm have also disappeared. The landscape of the former Le Minh Xuan commune now resembles that of a central urban ward. Ten years ago, Le Minh Xuan was recognized as an advanced new rural commune. Local people’s incomes have risen significantly thanks to the community's agility in developing numerous clean, high-tech agriculture models, such as hydroponic vegetables, green-skinned pomelos, coconut-growing cooperative groups, and even a nearly century-old incense-making village.

Ms. Le Thi Thuy, former Chairwoman of the Farmers' Association of the former Le Minh Xuan Commune, said, "The commune has nearly 9,200 households, including 1,060 farmer members. Many households have succeeded in doing business, with their incomes ranging from fairly well-off to wealthy. A typical example is the Coconut-Growing Cooperative Group with 12 member households cultivating green and red Siamese coconuts. Thanks to frequent cooperation, discussions, and experience-sharing, almost all have achieved success. Traders come directly to the gardens to buy coconuts at VND 6,000/fruit, and prices rise to VND 8,000–9,000/fruit during Tet."

On Thich Thien Hoa street (former Le Minh Xuan commune), there are numerous membrane houses growing cantaloupes. This is a high-tech farming model that Le Minh Xuan residents have practiced for many years, bringing them a steady and fairly high income.

Ms. Le Thi Hai, a resident of Hamlet 2 and one of the pioneers in growing cantaloupes in membrane houses, shared that she began this model after a trip to Da Lat eight years ago. After inquiring, learning, and visiting several other farms, she returned home, discussed with her husband, and converted half of their garden into two membrane houses, with an area of 500 m²/house, to grow Hoang Kim cantaloupes.

Thanks to careful study and frequent consultation with experienced guides, Ms. Hai's cantaloupe farm achieved high yields in its very first crop. Although the overall quality in terms of appearance and sweetness was not yet optimal, it was still considered a success.

Learning from experience, by the second crop, Ms. Hai had studied additional techniques for making bio-fertilizers, using biological preparations, and following more standardized cultivation processes. She also branded her cantaloupes with labels and reached out to supermarkets to promote them. As a result, the second crop was even more successful.

"For us, the time we spent as youth volunteers at Le Minh Xuan Farm remains an unforgettable and deeply proud chapter of our lives. We are proud to have devoted our youthful years to transforming the white belt on the city's outskirts into a lush, fertile green zone," emotionally recalled Mrs. Nguyen Thi Xuan, a former HCMC youth volunteer.