Vietnam Villages of Hope - North Vietnam

Published Date: 17 January 2006

Photo 1 of 15 : The village streets of Thanh Gia in north Vietnam's rice-rich Red River region. Families in this small hamlet of Bac Ninh Province have been living off the land and rice farming for centuries. As a mule-drawn cart approaches, a painted sign promoting 'Xe Om' -- or motorbike taxi -- suggests a more modern road ahead. Photo 2 of 15 : A place for snakes, crabs, fish, and lotus blossoms, canals are lifelines for village rice fields in Thanh Gia, Bac Ninh Province, near Hanoi in Vietnam. Mr. Pham Van Diep and his wife, Pham Thi Quang, host visitors with homegrown grapefruit and oranges at their family farm in Thanh Gia village, in Bac Ninh Province near Hanoi in Vietnam. The village is home to about 400 families whose livelihood is bound to rice and farming the earth. Photo 4 of 15 : Vietnam’s rice farmers are fond of a traditional drink they call ruou ran or snakewine. It’s an eye-popping rice liquor spiked with fruit, herbs, and a gutted cobra. Mr. Pham Van Diep toasts the harvest at home in his village of Thanh Gia, Bac Ninh Province, near Hanoi. Photo 5 of 15 : School comes first for children in Thanh Gia, a small rice farming village in Bac Ninh Province outside Hanoi in north Vietnam. Along the pathway home, a young boy dressed in the school colours proudly shows his bicycle and briefcase. Photo 6 of 15 :The ducks pointing the way, Ms. Pham Thi Quang, a mother of two in her early forties, looks forward to better harvests for her family and neighbours in Thanh Gia, a small village in Bac Ninh Province near Hanoi, Vietnam. Standing in the courtyard of her family farm, she is among hundreds of women in the village whose work determines the fate of each season's rice crop. Photo 7 of 15 : Women young and old work the rice fields in Vietnam and most developing countries. Near Hanoi, new varieties of rice are planted and cultivated at agricultural stations like this one in Van Giang. The new varieties in north Vietnam are developed by scientists at the country's Agricultural Genetics Institute. Photo 8 of 15 : A grandmother in north Vietnam's Thanh Gia village stands on a carpet of rice left to dry in her courtyard. Families have farmed rice in the country's rich Red River delta for millennia, since 2000 BC. On that time scale, Thanh Gia's families are among Vietnam's youngest rice farmers, having worked the fields for a mere 300 years. Photo 9 of 15 : The 300-year old village of Thanh Gia in north Vietnam is home to 21st century Photo 10 of 15 : Motorbikes are prized in rice farming villages like Thanh Gia in north Vietnam's Bac Ninh Province. Village leader Mr. Trinh Van Thanh gets set to take visitors for a spin, in this case Mr. To Anh Tuan and Dr. Nguyen Thi Vinh of the country’s Institute of Agricultural Genetics in Hanoi. Photo 11 of 15 :The hands of Dr. Nguyen Thi Vinh hold rice grown in Bac Ninh Province near Hanoi. She and her colleagues at the Institute of Agricultural Genetics have developed many new varieties of rice that today help feed Vietnam’s families and add to the country’s export earnings. The IAEA is among agencies that are supporting their efforts. Photo 12 of 15 : A national television crew films Dr. Tran Duy Quy, who directs Vietnam's Agricultural Genetics Institute in Hanoi, the centre of rice breeding in north Vietnam. Farmers are seeing better harvests from new varieties of rice that Dr. Quy (pronounced Kwee) and his team of scientists have developed with the IAEA's technical support. Photo 13 of 15 : New varieties of rice are developed and grown on test plots near the Agricultural Genetics Institute in Hanoi. Scientists at AGI have developed more than 30 new varieties of rice, mushrooms, and other crops that are benefitting the country's food and agricultural economies. Vietnam ranks among the world's top producers and exporters of rice. Dr. Le Huy Ham, one of Vietnam's top agricultural scientists and vice director of the country's Agricultural Genetics Institute in Hanoi. Beyond meeting the food needs of its own people, Vietnam has become one of the world's top rice exporters, applying the tools and expertise of biotechnology and nuclear science. The IAEA is supporting the country's aim to achieve higher levels of food security. Photo 15 of 15 : A rice breeder's log book records each detail of a new seed's life. From the laboratory to the field, new varieties of rice take years of research, development, and testing before they are cleared for commercial cultivation. In north Vietnam, work in plant breeding and crop improvement is spearheaded by the Agricultural Genetics Institute in Hanoi. © IAEA