60988    "Farmers on the delta have become rich, haven't they?"

60989    I had visited the village of Can Tho in 1980 when the shift to communism had begun after the end of the Vietnam War, so upon visiting the same village I was all the more surprised at the changes, because I remember the downcast expressions of the farmers.

60990    "No, that's not it," says Chan Tain Be, head of Can Tho University Farming Systems R&D Institute, replacing explanation by way of proffering several pieces of data.

60991    In the past several years, rapid increases in Vietnam's rice production have allowed it to earn a living off of the foreign currency made from exports.

60992    It is the fruit of the delta farmer's sweat and blood.

60993    Real income, however, is decreasing sharply.

60994    "After deducting taxes and pesticide and fertilizer costs and including the family's labor, a farmer makes only 1.7 dollars a day. This is as much as a cyclo driver in Ho Chi Minh City makes in one trip," he says.

60995    The tradition of the single crop cycle supported by family labor is being eroded by a sudden rise in agricultural chemical use and investment, leading to drops in production capacity, inadequate irrigation and land improvements, and a need for more modern machinery.

60996    The problems delta farmers are facing are extraordinary, and Chan laments, "We can't compete with modern farming like Japan's. It's only natural that more farmers will give up their land."

60997    The Vietnamese government has compiled a basic plan for developing its "grain belt".

60998    A transportation network of roads and bridges and a system of irrigation would cost a huge sum of money; still only the stuff of dreams.

60999    At the university, they are instructing farmers who are trying to sell their land in management diversification and organic farming methods.

61000    Visits to the nearby towns of Can Tho, Vinh Long and Mito demonstrate that farmers are already employing a variety of methods to support their families.

61001    Charter a small boat and the guide will surely take you to an orchard.

61002    Tourists are served tea and fresh-picked tropical fruits and talk with the farmers in their garden.