On the afternoon of June 13, Hue City Military Command and relevant units mobilized 200 soldiers to Thuy Tan commune (Huong Thuy town) to help local people harvest nearly 90 hectares of off-season rice that had been flooded due to the impact of Storm No.1.

On the 10-acre field of red chiem rice (a traditional red rice grown in brackish lowlands of Hue City, sown by April and harvested by July), each planting season requires 40 to 50 hired laborers, and the harvest stretches over several days. Left untended and unfertilized, the rice grows naturally under the generous sun and rain. Some call it “heaven’s rice” — a variety grown from the grace of Tam Giang’s waters.

Located about 50km north of Hue city center, Pho Trach village (Phong Dien town) is well known for growing bàng grass (Lepironia articulata) and crafting handmade products from it.

From a type of wild grass growing in waterlogged lowlands, the people of Pho Trach village have turned rush into hundreds of thousands of practical, beautiful and environmentally friendly handicrafts.

Coming to Nga Son, you will come upon the image of a busy, urgent working atmosphere mixed with bustling laughter in the sedge fields during the harvest season.

That is the brilliant yellow of the sunshine and the wind, and of the ripe rice fields with the corpulent, firm rice grains. That is also the yellow of straw and the pleased faces of farmers on the harvest days. The scene of the countryside is bustling and animated but simply beautiful.

Although it must be so strenuous to stick with this work, once the rubber trees are planted and grow up in the hilly area, and the half-mountain half-plain of Thua Thien Hue, its miracle of “poverty-alleviation” to people’s lives is visible.