Sandalwood, an exotic tree originating from India that produces precious wood as expensive as gold, has been successfully grown in Quang Tri.

In order to diversify medicinal plants and develop the locality into a medicinal plant center of the province, recently, Cam Lo district (Quang Tri province) has introduced many medicinal plants for experimental planting for expansion, including sandalwood.

Although only recently planted, this precious medicinal plant grows quickly, promising many prospects to bring high income to farmers.

After nearly a year of planting sandalwood seedlings, the sandalwood trees in the hills of An My village, Cam Tuyen commune (Cam Lo district, Quang Tri province) are 1.5-2 m tall.

Farmers in An My village, Cam Tuyen commune, Cam Lo district take care of sandalwood trees planted on a barren hill. -Photo: AV.

Local people said that despite a severe drought and a long rainy season, the survival rate of sandalwood trees is over 95% and they grow quickly and evenly.

This shows that this precious medicinal plant variety is very suitable for the soil and climate conditions in Cam Lo district, Quang Tri province.

Mr. Tran Minh Khanh's family, Cam Tuyen commune, Cam Lo district, planted 150 sandalwood trees on an area of ​​6 sao, interspersed with fruit trees that had not yet closed their canopy.

Mr. Khanh said that since planting until now, he has fertilized, cared for, weeded, and mounded the roots three times. Currently, the sandalwood tree is growing very well, with some trees taller than 2 meters.

“I have experimented with growing many types of plants, especially medicinal plants, but I find that sandalwood is very suitable for the soil and climate conditions in the hilly area.

The planting time was March 2023, then there was a long and severe drought, followed by cold rain, but the survival rate of the plants was very high and they grew well, especially there were almost no pests or diseases.

Hopefully, when the products are harvested, the company will purchase and consume the products for farmers as committed so that we can have more income and improve our lives," Mr. Khanh shared.

In early 2023, Cam Lo district (Quang Tri province) cooperated with the Institute of Sandalwood and Rare Plant Research to carry out a trial planting of sandalwood trees in Cam Tuyen commune.

There are 12 households participating in planting sandalwood trees on an area of ​​4.5 hectares (equivalent to nearly 2,000 trees). This is the land area where people have planted fruit trees but the canopy has not closed yet.

During the implementation of the sandalwood planting model, the District People's Committee supported 50% of the price of seeds and bio-fertilizers, equivalent to more than 62 million VND. In addition, people were trained in technical transfer on planting, care, pest control, harvesting, post-harvest preservation, etc.

These households also established a cooperative to support each other in planting, caring for, and protecting the sandalwood garden from livestock damage.

Vice Chairman of Cam Tuyen Commune People's Committee Tran Tho Binh said that currently the entire sandalwood area in An My village is growing well, so people are very excited, confident and expectant of this precious medicinal plant.

The local government continues to coordinate with the district's agricultural sector to direct and guide farmers to take care of and prevent pests and diseases according to the technical procedures set forth by the Institute for Research on Sandalwood and Rare Plants.

Sandalwood is a medicinal plant originating from India that has been introduced to our country in recent years.

The sandalwood tree has the advantage of utilizing all parts of the tree from the core wood, roots, leaves, seeds and wood waste to make essential oils, cosmetics... so it brings quite high economic value, known as the "green gold" tree.

Growing sandalwood is low risk because it is an intercrop. People who have gardens of oranges, grapefruits, rosewood, etc. can intercrop sandalwood and still have income from both crops.

Sandalwood can be grown in different types of soil such as sandy soil, red soil, clay, laterite clay soil, gravel soil but needs good drainage, because it cannot tolerate waterlogging.

Sandalwood trees start to yield leaves in the 3rd year; from the 4th to the 13th year they yield fruit with an average yield of about 1.5 kg/tree/year.

Sandalwood trees from the 13th year onwards are harvested for precious wood, each tree on average yields about 20-30 kg of core, including trunk core, root core and branch core.

Currently on the market, fresh sandalwood leaves are priced at about 100,000 VND/kg; sandalwood fruit from 150,000-200,000 VND/kg; sandalwood core from 1-5 million VND/kg (depending on size).

According to Dr. Vu Thoai, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Vietnam Institute for Research on Sandalwood and Rare Plants, each hectare of sandalwood from the time it starts to produce leaves and fruits to the entire trunk and roots brings in an income of about 500-700 million VND.

However, according to Dr. Vu Thoai, income from a sandalwood growing area also depends on the planting density, care process, and intercropping with other trees...

“Currently, we have a policy of developing sandalwood growing areas in Cam Lo, then building a factory to deeply process products to support output for farmers.

At the same time, we signed a commitment with the People's Committee of Cam Lo district and the people to consume the output of two main products: sandalwood seeds and wood," Mr. Vu Thoai added.

Source: https://danviet.vn/cay-dan-huong-cay-ngoai-lai-xuat-xu-an-do-ra-go-quy-dat-nhu-vang-trong-thanh-cong-o-quang-tri-20240421145715947.htm