Rice Fields Sapa Valley

Taking advantage of the recent heavy rainfalls, locals in the Sapa Highlands (Lao Cai Province) are hard at work to prepare for a new rice season.

Unlike other places, this is the only rice growing season for the northwestern highland's in general and Sapa in particular, so it is very important for the local farmers to do all the proper preparations following the traditions and instructions from the agricultural expansion encouragement staff in order to achieve the highest rice yield.

Rice cultivating season is also the most beautiful season in the Sapa Highland's and because of this, Sapa has always attracted a large number of photographers and young tourists from other cities to visit the region and take pictures of it during this time of year, especially since these terrace rice fields have been voted as one of the 7 most beautiful rice terraces in Asia and in the world by a U.S. travel magazine.

When visiting the Sapa Valley in North Vietnam, the rice fields stretch across the landscape to the horizon with people scattered around wearing their hats and working hard each day in the fields. The fields are divided into sections, some areas remain dry while others are filled with water, all requiring hours of tedious work.

Since the twentieth century, a majority of the rice grown is on the flooded sections of land, also known as paddy fields. Constructed next to rivers/marshes or on steep hillsides, these fields require large amounts of water for irrigation.

While looking across these rice fields in the Sapa Valley, one would think there would be enough rice for years to come, but in reality, each plant only produces an average of 20 or less grains. Twenty years ago, rice was imported from Vietnam, but today, Vietnam is an exporter of the rice.

Rice is served with many meals in North Vietnam, used in a variety of ways such as rice noodle, white rice, rice liquor, rice salads and rice desserts. A favorite food for the majority of the people living in North Vietnam.