In the northwest of the country, there is a land located in the heart of high mountains and old forests, this place is chosen by the Thai and Muong ethnic minorities as a long-term settlement, called Buot village. The name Buot is the sound of Wet because the whole village is surrounded by a clear stream flowing from the upstream forest. Water is the most important source of life for the Northwest Thai people – the typical inhabitants of the valley culture.

Van Ho Agritage is the English name of a heritage farming village model committed by Agritage Vietnam, the administration of Van Ho district and the residents of Buot village to preserve and develop. Agritage stands for two words: Agriculture and Heritage. The heritage farming village is located in Van Ho district, in order to retain the indigenous knowledge in agricultural farming, the eating and cultural features of the Thai and Muong people, the inhabitants of the valley culture living in Van Ho district, Son La province.

We are farmers in the Northwest mountains. My place is surrounded by mountains and forests. And the forest fields have been the cradle to raise so many generations for thousands of years. We love the indigenous seeds and we are proud of our forefathers’ knowledge and experience of farming in the forest fields.

As the children of Dong Rung, we aspire to preserve and develop the heritage agriculture by our forefathers and are very happy when  Agritage Vietnam Social Enterprise accompanies us every step of the way.

Te Rau rice is specialty rice cultivated only in remote highland areas. In fact, cultivation actually met many difficulties and there was a time when people stopped cultivating.

Since 2019, when the project “Promoting gender equality through improving economic efficiency in agricultural production and tourism development” funded by the Australian Government in Son La, people are trained and continue to cultivate this rice. Up to now, farmers have had a bumper harvest with good quality and a consuming market. The Te Rau rice fields also become places of interest, exchange, and learning experiences.

From this rice variety, people began to develop heritage agriculture, development plans, and strategies to associate agriculture with tourism, in order to retain beautiful stories about the poor life village but full of indentity.