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international and community development in Vietnam

A Farmer’s Tale

Minh Son is an exclusively agricultural commune in Trieu Son district, 25 km West of Thanh Hoa city, in North Vietnam. Every grain, every cup of harvested rice exacts a heavy toll of sweat and tears from its farmers. Today, rural areas face a labor shortage problem. Young people no longer care about agriculture because the work is too hard and the income barely affords them the rice to eat for the day; they have moved to urban areas to obtain manual labor jobs for a living. The village is now a shadow of its former self, with just a few old farmers still enthusiastic about the fields, together with women and children. They still use traditional methods of farming with manual labors. The farmers’ most fervent wish is to possess a motorized tiller, planter and reaper to reduce their hardships, and to attract a younger workforce to return to their hometown to start a sustainable career.

Having become aware of that wish, and with an eye toward community building and the modernization of its agriculture, on April 15, 2022, VNHelp delivered a Kubota Combine Harvester (DC70 Plus) to farmers in Minh Son commune. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Chanh & Ling Ling Cao Minh for sponsoring this machine.

From the next crop season, farmers will no longer have to stoop to cut each bunch of rice with a sickle. They will no longer be drenched in sweat and tears for bending their backs from early morning to late evening at each harvest. “The next bowl of rice we eat will definitely taste better, because it contains a lot of sincerity and sharing”, exclaimed Uncle Thong – a farmer of many years in Minh Son commune – with heartfelt passion and a bright smile!

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