'Tree of Happiness' in Xuan Ai

LAO CAI: Organic cinnamon trees have truly become a 'golden tree' in Vien Son. The local Dao people call it the 'tree of happiness', the 'tree that eradicates poverty'.

The century-old cinnamon tree is rooted in the land.

We arrived in the Viễn Sơn area of ​​Văn Yên district, formerly Yên Bái province (now Xuân Ái commune, Lào Cai province) when the dry autumn sun had already painted the mountain slopes golden. The already narrow road had become even more difficult after the floods caused by the remnants of typhoons 10 and 11 that had recently swept through.

Cinnamon trees blanket the hills of Viễn Sơn. Photo: Thanh Tiến.

After more than an hour of struggling with the road, just over 10 kilometers from the center of Xuan Ai commune to the Vien Son area, we arrived when the sun was high in the sky. The midday sun was quite intense, but the air was incredibly cool and pleasant. Cinnamon trees covered everything from the high mountain peaks down to the deep valleys, creating a vast expanse of lush, deep green.

It's the middle of the cinnamon harvest season, so the atmosphere is bustling with activity. In front of the Dao people's houses, batches of freshly peeled cinnamon bark are being dried. A strong, spicy, and characteristic aroma of cinnamon essential oil permeates the tranquil mountain region.

We met Mr. Ly Van Kim, a long-time cinnamon farmer in Thap Cai village. Sipping a strong cup of tea, Mr. Kim slowly recounted the early hardships: “I came down from the mountains here in 1964. Back then, Vien Son was very wild, just dense forests and mountains. There were no roads, only trails, and we had to sneak through the forest and crawl through the bushes to get there.”

The lives of the first settlers, like Mr. Kim, were a struggle against hunger and poverty. He recalled: “When we came here, we mainly ate cassava and corn. During times of famine, we even had to eat wild yams and other tubers dug up in the forest. There were no shops or markets. To go to the market, we had to walk more than 20 kilometers to the central market in Mau A. This area was almost completely isolated from the outside world because the road leading here was a dead end.”

Mr. Kim stands beside an ancient cinnamon tree planted in the 1980s. Photo: Thanh Tien.

After leaving the military and returning to his hometown in 1981, Mr. Kim began planting cinnamon trees. He recounted, "From 1982 to 1992, my family planted a lot of cinnamon trees. The trees we planted back then are now as big as house pillars or a fan, too big for an adult to hug. I still keep some of them to collect seeds."

Mr. Kim said that in the last 20 years, people's lives have only just begun to improve. 95% of households in the village have escaped poverty. The entire Vien Son commune mainly relies on cinnamon cultivation for its livelihood; there is no other crop that can replace it.

Mr. Kim had eight children, six sons and two daughters. When his children grew up, he harvested cinnamon bark and divided the land among them so they could cultivate it themselves and establish their own livelihoods. The sons received more than the daughters, each owning a plot of land. When his daughters got married, he also gave them a small cinnamon hill as a dowry. And so, generation after generation, the cinnamon tree took root in the lives of the Dao people here.

In Vien Son, almost all households grow cinnamon. Photo: Thanh Tien.

"The golden guarantee" of cinnamon

Mr. Ly Tien Thanh, Secretary of the Thap Cai Village Party Branch, shared: “When talking about cinnamon trees, we must mention our ancestor, Ban Phu Sau. He was the first person to descend from the mountains to this Thap Cai area. According to the elders, more than 100 years ago, while in the forest, he saw a very lush tree. He picked some leaves to try and found them spicy and fragrant, so he uprooted a sapling and planted it. The Vien Son cinnamon tree has been cultivated since then. We are the 5th and 6th generations after Mr. Ban Phu Sau, and now the people of Thap Cai village worship him at the village temple, considering him the founder of cinnamon cultivation.”

From Mr. Sau's first cinnamon trees, Vien Son has today become the "cinnamon capital" with vast areas of cinnamon plantations. Thap Cai village alone, with 215 households, has nearly 1,400 hectares of cinnamon trees.

According to Mr. Ban Phuc Hin, former Chairman of Vien Son commune, what makes Vien Son cinnamon famous is not just its area but its quality. The same cinnamon tree grown here has a significantly higher essential oil content. This is thanks to the unique climate and soil conditions. Therefore, Vien Son cinnamon always commands a higher price than cinnamon from other places.

This ancient cinnamon tree is so big that an adult can't wrap their arms around it. Photo: Thanh Tien.

Thanks to its superior quality, in 2017, Vien Son cinnamon, along with six other communes of the former Van Yen district, was granted the geographical indication certificate "Van Yen cinnamon" by the Intellectual Property Office. This is a "golden guarantee" for the cinnamon brand of this region.

In recent years, with guidance from companies and specialized agencies, people have been strongly shifting towards organic cinnamon production. The process is very strict; first, good varieties must be selected to ensure the quality of the essential oil. When preparing the land, absolutely no pesticides or herbicides are used; only manual tilling is done. If the trees are infested with pests or diseases, they are only removed by hand or by plucking off the affected leaves instead of spraying pesticides.

Locals have developed a habit of making organic cinnamon. Photo: Thanh Tien.

Mr. Ly Tien Thanh, Secretary of the Thap Cai Party Branch, said: “In the past, our ancestors cultivated cinnamon entirely organically because there were no pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. There was a period around the year 2000 when herbicides became quite common. After being educated and encouraged, now 95% have returned to organic cinnamon farming. People only weed, and the fallen weeds decompose naturally into fertilizer for the cinnamon; they don't use a single chemical fertilizer.”

The goal is to have 4,000 hectares of organic cinnamon.

Cinnamon trees have truly become a "golden tree" in Vien Son, with locals calling them the "tree of happiness" and the "tree that eradicates poverty." Mr. Ly Tien Thanh did a simple calculation: The cinnamon tree cycle has now shortened to 10-15 years. By the seventh year, it's possible to begin thinning. If harvested completely, one hectare can yield 500-700 million VND, depending on the age of the tree.

The Dao people in Vien Son have been closely associated with cinnamon trees for generations. Photo: Thanh Tien.

With 1,400 hectares of cinnamon trees, Thap Cai is rapidly becoming prosperous. Average per capita income is projected to reach 54 million VND in 2024, with a target of increasing to 60 million VND this year. The number of poor households has decreased to only 12 (mainly elderly people living alone or those with illnesses), and 97% of the villagers' houses are solid structures.

“About 40% of households in Vien Son earn billions of dong from cinnamon. A household with 2 hectares of 10-year-old cinnamon trees already has 1 billion dong, while here, households with 5-10 hectares are normal. It's estimated that there are about 300 households with over 10 hectares of cinnamon, so assets worth tens of billions of dong are not uncommon,” Mr. Thanh calculated.

According to Mr. Luu Trung Kien, Secretary of the Party Committee of Xuan Ai commune, the commune was newly formed after the merger of five communes (Dai Phac, Yen Phu, Yen Hop, Vien Son, and Xuan Ai). The commune has a total natural area of ​​nearly 124 square kilometers and a population of nearly 25,000 people. It was formerly a key cinnamon-growing area of ​​Van Yen district with a total area of ​​over 6,000 hectares, of which 2,000 hectares have achieved organic cinnamon standards.

Xuan Ai commune aims to have 4,000 hectares of organic cinnamon. Photo: Thanh Tien.

In the coming period, Xuan Ai commune will continue to plan and develop cinnamon raw material areas, focusing on increasing the area of ​​organic cinnamon, striving to bring the area of ​​organic cinnamon to over 4,000 hectares. Over 50% of the commune's cinnamon production will be processed and exported to high-quality markets such as the US, Japan, South Korea, and the EU.

With a centuries-old tradition of clinging to the land and forests, coupled with a deeply rooted organic farming mindset, the Xuan Ai cinnamon growing region is sure to reach further, contributing to bringing Vietnamese cinnamon to the world and continuing the story of prosperity from the green forests.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/cay-hanh-phuc-o-xuan-ai-d780900.html