Many scholars were astonished when visiting his garden – a farmer who never completed middle school and had no knowledge of seedling cultivation processes. He was the first and only one to successfully germinate the Huỳnh tree while scientists were struggling to cultivate it in laboratories.
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The “Huỳnh – Tiêu” formula applied by the people of Cồn Chay and Cự Nẫm under Mr. Lý’s guidance has proven to be highly effective. The scene of poverty in this region is now replaced with abundance and prosperity. |
He is Ngô Xuân Lý from Cồn Chay village, Cự Nẫm commune, Bố Trạch district, Quảng Bình province.
From Forest Destroyer to Forest Protector
Mr. Lý recounts: “Over thirty years ago, Cồn Chay was very poor. Everyone rushed into the forests to cut wood for a living, and families often had many children to help with the work. In my house, with six children over ten years old, I taught them how to find quality wood to sell.”
During the days of deforestation, he would often feel conflicted at night: “My family had a group of six people cutting down trees, and if every family in Cự Nẫm was doing the same, then the forest wouldn’t be able to grow back.” But thoughts of daily survival pushed him and his children back into the woods each morning.
One day, he had the idea to uproot the Huỳnh tree to try planting it, hoping to stop the deforestation. Every day, he uprooted dozens of young trees, and gradually increased to over 300 Huỳnh trees planted throughout his hillside garden.
The Huỳnh tree is one that poor people in Central Vietnam dream of having a wooden house built from. Its wood is as good as that of other prized trees like Gỗ (Gu) and Lim, but Huỳnh has a beautiful red color, a straight and flexible trunk, making it excellent for crafting furniture and especially sturdy boats. He nurtured the Huỳnh trees carefully, and they grew quickly.
Upon further investigation, he found that anything growing under the Huỳnh trees thrived, so he invested in planting over 300 pepper vines beneath the Huỳnh canopy. The pepper thrived on the healthy Huỳnh trees, producing an astonishing yield. Seeing clear results, he diligently maintained the “Huỳnh – Tiêu” cultivation method for over a decade. This method then gained popularity, with the people of Cồn Chay following Mr. Lý’s example to plant Huỳnh and adopt the “Huỳnh – Tiêu” formula.
As many people flocked to find Huỳnh seedlings, they became scarce. Mr. Lý thought that if he could cultivate Huỳnh, he could also propagate it.
One day in the garden, a gust of wind blew, and he suddenly saw numerous strange objects flying from the Huỳnh tree, resembling a swarm of butterflies. He chased after them, picking up several wings, and soon realized they were Huỳnh fruits. He was overjoyed to discover that Huỳnh bore fruit and was confident that the seeds would germinate once planted in the ground. Eagerly, he harvested the remaining fruit and worked hard to cultivate the soil behind his house to sow the wing-shaped Huỳnh seeds. In some places, he soaked the seeds in cold water to split the shell before planting, firmly believing that Huỳnh would sprout from… the fruit.
For over two months, he was restless as the Huỳnh seeds showed no signs of germination. One morning, just as he was losing hope, he visited his garden and spotted the first Huỳnh sprout emerging from the soaked seeds. He was thrilled beyond measure. At that time, scientists maintained that Huỳnh propagated through natural dispersal and could not be cultivated from seeds. However, he proved otherwise by “discovering” that Huỳnh could grow from fruit through human intervention.
Technology Transfer Without Copyright Claims
Mr. Lý’s fame spread far and wide. One day, the people of Cồn Chay excitedly welcomed a delegation led by former Deputy Minister of Forestry Phan Thanh Xuân to visit Mr. Lý’s Huỳnh garden. After Mr. Lý clearly presented his method of germinating Huỳnh seeds, Deputy Minister Phan Thanh Xuân was astonished and asked, “Is this true?”
Unable to contain his excitement, he embraced the farmer with only a middle school education: “This success warrants the state granting you a practical Ph.D.!” That day, there were also leaders from the Central Seed Enterprise present, and Deputy Minister Xuân stated: “Huỳnh cultivation is a topic that is struggling in laboratories. Farmer Lý’s success allows us to bypass the research phase. The enterprise must immediately learn this method.”
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“Farmer Ph.D.” Ngô Xuân Lý in his Huỳnh garden. |
With the simplicity of a farmer, Mr. Lý generously transferred the Huỳnh cultivation process to the enterprise in 1985 without claiming copyright or compensation. Since then, he has provided tons of Huỳnh seeds annually not only to the Central Seed Enterprise but also to many forestry companies across Central Vietnam, from Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế… to the Central Highlands provinces.
In 1993, he sold his first batch of Huỳnh, using the proceeds to build houses for his five sons, and later he mobilized funds to plant over 30 hectares of Huỳnh in the barren Khương Sơn mountain. Today, he has expanded to over 120 hectares, including Huỳnh, Lát, Lim, Huê, and Agarwood.
But more than that, the Huỳnh trees he planted are now over 20 meters tall, with trunks too large for a person to hug. A friend informed me that currently, 20-meter-tall Huỳnh is valued at 5 million VND per cubic meter at the mill. With an average yield of 1 cubic meter of wood per tree and the average number of Huỳnh being 2 cubic meters per tree, just 1,000 trees per hectare over 30 hectares multiplied by 5 million VND yields a truly substantial amount.
“That’s a Success!”
Thanks to his success, the people of Cồn Chay and Cự Nẫm have sparked a movement to plant Huỳnh everywhere. This once barren land is now lush with abundant Huỳnh trees. Every alley and pathway in this area is lined with Huỳnh. They grow beside wells and along fences, towering dozens of meters high with trunks wider than a person can embrace.
The people of Cự Nẫm, who once ventured into the forest to harvest timber, have now laid down their axes to diligently plant Huỳnh and establish Huỳnh farms following Mr. Lý’s example. No one in this village is still foolish enough to venture into the forest to cut wood. It is said that the credit for this significant change belongs to Mr. Lý, which is why in 2003, he was among three farmers awarded the National Environmental Prize by the state.
To conclude the article, I borrow the words of General Võ Nguyên Giáp: “For many years, we wondered what to plant and what to raise? Then we spent foreign currency to buy foreign seeds. Some seeds create a green canopy but deplete the soil, with little economic value; others must be discarded after the trial period. Mr. Lý has created a suitable plant variety with high economic value, improving the soil, allowing for pepper cultivation beneath the Huỳnh, and that is indeed a success.”
