Mu Cang Chai district of the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, well-known for its impressive terrace fields, is looking to planting rapeseed (Brassica napus) as a new way to raise local incomes while boosting tourism.
Illustrative image (Photo: baoyenbai.com.vn) The terraced fields in the district attract large crowds of tourists during the rice harvest season in mid-September, but during the other time of the year, local residents still rely on farming as their main livelihood. Due to cold weather and a lack of water, the local Mong people only cultivate one rice crop a year, leaving the fields empty the other time of the year. Last year, the district experimented with planting rapeseed on two hectares of land with optimistic results, according to Luong Van Thu, deputy head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Division of Mu Cang Chai District. Therefore, Mu Cang Chai encouraged farmers to grow rapeseed on 500 hectares out of 1,600 hectares of agricultural land in the district this year. The area is usually left uncultivated during the winter-spring crop. The plant is expected to bloom across the terraced fields in February and March, creating a new face of the region, attracting tourists to the mountain land. Locally-grown rapeseed also produces two tonnes of oil per hectare, bringing additional income to locals.
