Milestones in Professor Vo Tong Xuan’s career

Professor Vo Tong Xuan passed away on the morning of August 19 at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, at the age of 84. He was known as Vietnam’s leading agricultural expert, with many contributions to the field of agricultural science and research.

In the Mekong Delta, when mentioning the rice varieties Than Nong, IR36, IR33, IR64, MTL30…, the name of Professor Vo Tong Xuan is often associated with. He has the merit of searching for and bringing new varieties to crossbreed to suit the growing conditions in this land. The rice varieties were then grown throughout the Western provinces. In which, the IR36 variety is considered “a revolution” that helps control the brown planthopper epidemic, with a high yield of up to 8 – 9 tons/ha.

In the 1980s, IR36 was used globally on 11 million hectares. By 2000, the widespread adoption of IR36 and other rice varieties had contributed significantly to increased rice yields, with production increasing to 600 million tons.

He became the first Vietnamese scientist to receive the VinFuture Prize in 2023 for his contributions to the dissemination of the IR36 variety in areas frequently attacked by pests in the Mekong Delta and cooperation with farmers to apply advanced transplanting techniques. On the occasion of receiving the award, he shared: “I want to make Vietnamese farmers richer. Going to this country and that country, I see why farmers are so rich, but farmers in my country are so poor. We need to find a way to make Vietnamese rice farmers have higher incomes. From there, I determined the goal to study and research to solve the problem.”

Many agricultural experts have assessed that “the IR36 rice variety has created a major change in agriculture by controlling the brown planthopper epidemic. Professor Vo Tong Xuan’s contributions to the agricultural sector have helped make Vietnam one of the top three rice exporting countries in the world.”

Prof. Dr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of the Vietnam Plant Seed Association, still remembers that when he was the Director of the Vietnam-Russia (former Soviet Union) Plant Seed Center in 1985-1987, Professor Xuan supported the direction of importing world varieties to Vietnam. At that time, Professor Xuan said, “Genetic resources are a valuable asset of the country.” The combination of international resources with Vietnamese genetic resources made him very excited.

Thanks to the combination of genetic resources and the application of modern technology, Vietnam has become 95% self-sufficient in crop varieties, especially pure rice varieties. Typically, the ST24 and ST25 lines also rely on basic theories to create new rice varieties, the best rice in the world, which engineer Ho Quang Cua, a student of Professor Xuan, has achieved. “Current varieties such as rice varieties that adapt to climate change, are tolerant to salinity, and are alum… are also the result of applying world research together with modern technology to improve and create suitable rice varieties,” said Professor Long.

Professor Vo Tong Xuan’s activities in the agricultural sector are also reflected in international cooperation projects. He regularly participates in share experiences and support countries, especially developing countries, in agricultural development.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lang, Director of the Mekong Delta High-Tech Agricultural Research Institute, said that there was a time when he was in West Africa, he called Prof. Lang to ask for help creating some rice varieties to send to West Africa to help the people. She sent 10 rice varieties from Vietnam and they are now growing strongly. “When I attended international conferences, many foreign scientists asked me if I knew Mr. Xuan,” she said that Prof. Xuan’s reputation spread internationally and was highly respected.

Not only does he research and create rice varieties, he also find solutions to improve acid sulfate soils and increase crop productivity. In the North Long An and Hong Ngu (Dong Thap) areas where acid sulfate soils are very severe, he recommends building an irrigation system to bring fresh water to remove acid and wash away salt. To reduce acidity and acidity in the soil, he encourages the use of lime powder to neutralize acid in the soil, improve pH and create more favorable conditions for plant growth.

In the career of Professor Vo Tong Xuan, training a team of agricultural engineers also left many marks. Sharing with VnExpress when he went to Hanoi to receive the award in 2023, he said that in 1976, a year after receiving a “doctor of agronomy” degree in Japan (equivalent to a PhD), he returned to Vietnam with the desire to train a team of agricultural engineers at Can Tho University. As a result, thousands of students have received his knowledge.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lang said that Prof. Xuan paid great attention to training the next generation of young people. When he was the Principal of An Giang University, he invited Prof. Lang to build a biotechnology department for the school. “He told me to stay in the country to earn less money but to try my best for Vietnam,” she remembered. That was the reason she kept her promise to build a biotechnology department for An Giang University in 5 years.