Soil-fed, heaven-nurtured
Riding his scooter smoothly, Tran Viet Phon took us down a rugged dirt track to the saline rice paddies by Tam Giang Lagoon in Van Quat Dong, Huong Phong Ward, Thuan Hoa. This corner of the lagoon comes alive with the rumble of plows, voices in conversation, and the distant cries of people gathering leftover grain. With a wide arm gesture, Phon said, “Those are our 10 acres — from that net over there to the water’s edge beneath Tam Giang Bridge.” Pulling out his phone, Phon called the harvester team and then directed a few workers waiting by the dike to bring in the rice.
At first glance, it’s hard to believe Phon is a farmer — he doesn’t fit the age-old image of mud-caked feet and hands. Today, every step in the field is mechanized and handled entirely by hired labor. This year, the Phon brothers won a bid for 10 acres of brackish lagoon water to harness natural aquatic resources.
In winter, his daily income from fish and shrimp can reach several hundred thousand dong, depending on the day’s catch. Late last year, with favorable weather, the villagers decided to plant red chiem rice in the brackish fields. Field supervision and management were handled by Le Dieu, a retired agricultural officer and the brothers’ maternal uncle.
As folklore has it, chiem rice traces its roots back to ancient Champa. This variety is flood-tolerant, tall-stalked, pest-resistant, and rarely topples, thriving in low-lying, brackish, and acidic soils. Seedling preparation begins in November, followed by transplanting into brackish fields in December. Red chiem seedlings must be planted by hand due to the deep, salty, and muddy terrain. Once rooted, the rice begins its training under wind and water, growing rapidly and rising far above ordinary varieties.
I find it hard to picture how manpower is mobilized to transplant seedlings simultaneously across the 10-acre red chiem field. Does the scene recall the legendary “Huong canh dien thap mau” (Huong Canh ten-acre field), once said to produce tribute rice for the imperial court? Still, the image of a “troop” working nonstop for four days across an area the size of five football fields stirs curiosity in Huong Phong’s lowlands.
Fed by the soil and nurtured by heaven, red chiem rice matures into clean, nutrient-rich grains that benefit the digestive and cardiovascular systems. Harvested early in the summer-autumn crop, red chiem rice yields only 1.5 to 1.8 quintals per sao (500-square-meter plot), well below the output of other rice varieties. Even so, traders are offering 1.6 to 1.7 million VND per quintal for this salt-tolerant crop.
Mr. Phon’s 10-acre saltwater rice field yields around 15 to 18 tons of rice per harvest, providing a much higher income than traditional fishing. Red chiem rice is used to make porridge served with braised fish, steamed as clean rice, or processed into rice milk. Breakfast eateries, canteen kitchens, and hospitals are among frequent buyers of this agricultural product.
Tran Viet Phon amid his family’s brackish-water paddy field
Despite its low yield, the red chiem harvest still draws rice gleaners thanks to its clean cultivation and high nutritional value. Le Thi Nga, over 50, from Van Quat Dong in Huong Phong, was patiently gathering leftover rice grains in the late afternoon. “Gleaning in the salt-flooded fields is grueling,” she said. “The water's knee-deep, the mud clings to your legs, and the sharp stalks scrape your shins. After a whole afternoon, I get two sacks, but once cleaned and dried, there's barely a bit left. Still, this rice is delicious and rare. I save it to make porridge for my family.”
Memories and expectations
Mr. Le Dieu, 65, was formally trained in agriculture. As a university student, he often attended lectures on salt-tolerant rice varieties. He is proud that his hometown has preserved the traditional red chiem rice variety. “A few years ago, the ward selected salt-tolerant rice as a local OCOP product. An agricultural company used to buy it, but due to low yields and unstable markets, people have since lost interest,” said the man with 35 years in the fields.
“Preserving red chiem rice seedlings is very difficult; pest infestations and unstable weather conditions often lead to definite losses. When conditions are favorable, farmers utilize salty and acid sulfate-infested areas to cultivate crops, generating profits instead of leaving the fields barren. Pure red chiem rice variety is clean and commands a high price, but its market is quite selective,” Mr. Dieu added.
A days-long harvest on the 10-acre chiem rice field
Red chiem rice was once a familiar crop across many communities, becoming part of local knowledge through the folk verse: “Chiem rice peeks from the edge of the field / At the sound of thunder, it rallies and grows!” This reflects how weather markedly affects salt-tolerant rice. During seasonal transitions, rice plants enter a growth phase. When conditions are favorable, root systems thrive, boosting photosynthesis and organic production ahead of the panicle-forming stage.
Of the nearly 510 hectares of rice cultivated in Huong Phong Ward, just 5 to 7 hectares remain dedicated to the traditional saltwater-flooded red chiem rice variety. Aside from the two Phon brothers, only a handful of households continue growing Chiem Do rice—mainly for household consumption and to help preserve this heritage crop. According to Mr. Le Dieu, a working session was held with a project team studying the feasibility of a rice–brackish-water shrimp farming model. However, if this pilot model is to be implemented, it should be confined to a moderate area to allow for proper evaluation because the area also serves as an agricultural drainage zone.
According to Mr. Tran Viet Chuc, Party Secretary of Huong Phong Ward, the area of saltwater-flooded rice has dropped sharply because high prices have made the product less marketable. Even though Huong Phong Ward has showcased red chiem rice at trade fairs, the weak market demand has led local leaders to postpone scaling up the model.
A few years back, Dr. Phan Phuoc Hien, a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, collected 16 traditional rice varieties from Thua Thien Hue (now Hue City) during his research. Among them were Lua nuoc man Hue ( Hue salty water rice), Chien Thai, Chien Hoa Khe, Heo rang, Chien Do, Chien Cang, Chien Don, and Chien Chan Son Tay (as labeled in the study). So far, no study seems to have delved into Hue’s salt-tolerant rice varieties, let alone the specific strains collected by Dr. Hien.
Despite shrinking cultivation areas and narrowing market access, the value and presence of red chiem rice in the lagoon-based agricultural system remain undeniable. With its unique genetic characteristics, red chiem rice not only enriches the pool of native rice varieties but also holds potential for breeding and climate-adaptive agricultural research. In the future, it could serve as a lifeline, offering hope for soil conservation and livelihoods in low-lying and coastal areas.
More than just a local specialty, red chiem rice carries the memories of generations and stands as a testament to nature-friendly cultivation. On the shore of the vast lagoon, red rice blossoms bend with quiet resilience, holding the salty essence of the land and offering both fragrance and flavor to life. These deep red grains steadfastly preserve the soul of the countryside, woven into the rhythms of lagoon life. I rode back with freshly harvested chiem rice stalks for a PhD agronomist, who is nurturing a research project on food security.
Hopefully, we will soon see red chiem rice again in a newer, more valuable “version.”
