The dirt road leading to Mr. Nguyen Van Dung’s house in village 10, Ea Tieu commune, has been replaced by a smooth concrete road. What is particularly impressive is that along both sides of the road, every house has a lush areca garden or a coffee garden interspersed with areca trees. Mr. Dung happily boasts that by growing this type of tree, each household can earn from several tens of millions to hundreds of millions of VND per year.
Previously, Mr. Dung's family also focused on growing pepper and coffee on an area of 7 sao, but the income was only enough to reinvest and cover daily expenses. The desire for a more prosperous life urged him and his wife to explore and innovate their economic thinking. After visiting and learning about many models, he decided to try his hand at areca trees. In 2015, he and his wife gradually destroyed 7 sao of pepper and coffee to plant areca trees. After 4 years of care, his family's areca garden began to bear fruit.
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| Mr. Nguyen Van Dung's family's areca garden brings in several hundred million dong in income each year. |
Areca flowers from January and are harvested in June. In one areca season, Mr. Dung's family harvests an average of more than 10 tons of fruit, priced from 50,000 - 100,000 VND/kg, depending on the time. In the 2024 areca crop alone, his family "pocketed" over 500 million VND. According to Mr. Dung, areca trees are very easy to care for, require little fertilizer, are less susceptible to pests and diseases, and compared to many other crops, areca trees bring many times higher economic efficiency.
Through market research, Mr. Dung realized that many places had a need to buy areca seedlings, so he researched and learned to make seedlings. With more than 1 sao of areca seedlings, his family supplies the market with about 50,000 trees each year, earning over 150 million VND. With that area, his family used to work hard but only had enough to eat, but with a new mindset in doing business, perseverance, acumen, and sticking to the end, even when the areca purchasing price was low, his family reaped "sweet fruit".
In the same village 10, Ea Tieu commune, Ms. Le Thi Tam's family not only has an income of over 150 million VND per year from 3 sao of areca trees but also finds a way to increase economic efficiency on the same cultivated area thanks to the model of planting betel trees in the areca garden.
More than 4 years ago, when she saw some traders buying areca nuts asking to buy betel leaves, Mrs. Tam immediately had the idea of learning how to grow this "money-making" plant. Because betel is a climbing plant, she and her husband took advantage of the areca garden to intercrop 100 betel vines.
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| The model of growing betel trees in the areca garden brings stable income to Mrs. Le Thi Tam's family. |
Mrs. Tam said that to have a lush betel garden with even, beautiful leaves as desired is quite a feat. Betel is known as a plant that is planted once and harvested for life. However, because it is a "difficult" plant, it cannot withstand drought, cold, waterlogging and is susceptible to fungus, so planting, caring for and harvesting are all meticulous. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to preventing fungal diseases and keeping the garden moist enough. In particular, with betel plants, it is not allowed to use uncomposted manure as fertilizer. When picking betel leaves, you must also know how to choose leaves that are old enough, dark green in color, and pick gently so as not to affect the betel vine.
Depending on market demand and orders from traders, Mrs. Tam will pick betel leaves, carefully package them and send them to the North. During holidays and Tet, she harvests betel leaves every few days. With prices ranging from 20,000 - 80,000 VND/kg depending on the time, on average, Mrs. Tam's family earns about 70 million VND per year.
Coming to Ea Tieu commune today, not only can you feel the change in the appearance of the countryside with asphalt and concrete roads, beautiful houses, but also the prosperity of each family. Changing the mindset of "monoculture" in developing household economy to multi-cropping, intercropping and finding new suitable crops has helped many households become millionaires, creating a more prosperous and fulfilling village.
Source: https://baodaklak.vn/kinh-te/202506/cay-trieu-phu-o-ea-tieu-1d1182b/
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