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“I
always volunteered for things I was interested in, not
thinking of earning money, but learning new things and
gaining experiences.” – how Dr.
Xuan made it from a poor newspaper boy to “Dr.
Rice”.
Dr.
Vo-Tong Xuan, Rector & Professor for Agronomy,
University of Angiang, Long Xuyen City, Vietnam
“Although
we achieved quite a lot the last 30 years  including
among other things the adoption of new farming technologies
for rice production, several political adjustments to
increase the incentives for farmers to invest in their
work and to increase rice production, the possibility
to earn decent money by exporting rice, the political
support to increase the variety of crops they are allowed
to plant, the education of many farmers, there is still
a lot of work to be done to enable to Vietnamese farmers
to be competitive in the globalized market of the 21st
century,” Dr. Xuan admits in his office full of
books & papers in Angiang University.
With the help of the government, international organizations
and his students Dr. Xuan currently tries to show the
Vietnamese farmers how they can successfully plant a
variety of crops in the different regional areas (clusters)
of Vietnam.
Let
us give you a short impression of our lively and very
interesting discussion with Dr. Xuan in the following
lines. You might be able to read more about him and
his interesting projects in our book “MyImpact”.
Vo-Tong
Xuan’s selected quotations:
“I’m used to working very hard. When I was
a teenager I  had
to get up at 3.30am to pick up the newspapers from the
distributor and selling them together with my eldest
brother and sister before going to school to earn a
livelihood for the eight persons of my family. Today
I work to increase the living standards of the poor
Vietnamese farmers, because I know what it means to
be poor.”
“Having the picture of the hard
working, hardship enduring Vietnamese farmer in my mind,
I never thought of decreasing my workload.”
“I
always wanted to contribute to the well-being of the
Vietnamese society. When I recognized that not farming
technology, but the missing incentives for the farmers
are the problem underlying the amount of rise produced,
I decided to become a politician to really improve the
lives of many people.”
“Working as politician for the
general assembly was often frustrating. However, seeing
things being realized which I recommended years before,
gives me great satisfaction.”
“When
we educated farmers via TV we always had to be aware
that our proposals had to fit in the existing system.”
“Often
people are not willing to change immediately, but after
a while of permanently showing them that the things
you propose really work, they start to adapt and change
their ways of doing things.”
“The older I become, the more
requests for help I receive. That’s an honor for
me, but at the same time it’s quite a bit of work.”
“Money was never important to
me. Having been raised in conditions where we had to
suffer a lot of hardship, I was always happy to learn
and apply new things which helped to improve the lives
of many Vietnamese people.”
Some background on Vo-Tong Xuan:
Today Dr. Vo-Tong Xuan is president of Angiang  University
in Long Xuyen, where he is living with his wife. He
is also director of the Mekong Delta Farming Systems
Research and Development Institute. Dr. Vo-Tong has
a long career in the development of Vietnamese agriculture,
both in the arena of the scientific world as well as
the political world.
Born as the eldest son of a poor family with 6 children
in Ho Chi Minh City, Dr. Xuan had to contribute to the
family income even during his school time, by selling
newspapers, which he was collecting each early morning
at the central distributor. With the help of a scholarship
of the Rockefeller Foundation, he was able to study
in Manila, where he specialized in sugar technology
(1965-1969) and rice production, while serving as a
research fellow at the International Rice Research Institute
from 1969 to 1971. Coming back to Vietnam during the
last years of the war, Dr. Xuan tried to help Vietnamese
farmers to increase their rice production by using state-of-the-art
technology. Having lost everything, except for his family
and his skills, when the war was over in 1975, Dr. Xuan
started from scratch in Cantho University. He has worked
at the grassroots, national, and international level
in the governmental, private, and non-governmental sectors
to transform the Vietnamese agricultural economy from
a net rice importer to the world’s second largest
rice-exporter. This was possible only due to his relentless
efforts to educate Vietnamese farmers and his political
engagement in the Vietnamese parliament for 17 years,
which helped to implement several decisive laws to improve
the situation of the Vietnamese farmers.
Dr. Vo-Tong has received numerous awards and is a member
of various boards and committees, including the National
Advisory Council of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, the National Advisory Council on Science
and Technology, the Rockefeller Foundation Board of
Trustees, and the Asian Forum on Development Research
Advisory Council. He received a M.Sc. in agricultural
chemistry from the University of the Philippines and
a Ph.D. in crop science from Kyushu University in Japan.
Some
background on Can Tho University and the Mekong Delta
Farming Systems Research and Development Institute:
Founded in 1966, Can Tho University (CTU), the only
state university in the region, is located in the heart
of the Mekong Delta. CTU has become an important center
for research and technology. It is well- known for its
out-reach programs serving communities throughout the
delta. CTU works closely with provincial authorities,
private and public enterprises, and the farming community.
These essential links create a better understanding
of practical problems and enable CTU to focus its teaching
and research activities on the needs of the rapidly
changing labor market.
CTU is among the leading universities in Vietnam. It
has built, over the years, a broad network of international
cooperation. CTU has established linkages with many
major international organizations, as well as training
and research institutes worldwide. CTU has acquired
an enviable reputation among international academic
institutions for its realistic approach to training,
scientific research, and technology transfer activities.
International cooperation at CTU comprises many facets:
cooperation with international organizations and governments,
twinning programs with universities and research institutes,
and the sharing knowledge with other institutions. CTU
has been innovative in developing new concepts in training
as well as new approaches in doing research. CTU is
always striving to achieve quality in all of its academic
programs.
The
Mekong Delta Development Research Institute (MDI)  was
established in March 2005 on the base of the MD Farming
Systems R&D Institute (1995), formerly the Department
of Rice Science (1976) of College of Agriculture, Can
Tho University. With high specialization and well-experienced
personnel, the Institute’s activities and collaborations
are aimed at the Mekong Delta’s sustainable socio-economic
development through education, science-technology research
and transfer, and development consultancy.
If you would like to engage with the work of Vo-Tong
Xuan please visit http://www.ctu.edu.vn/institutes/mdi
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch
or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch
directly
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