Cymbidium orchids - sustainable poverty reduction plants for Lai Chau people

In To Y Phin village, Lan Nhi Thang commune, cymbidium is one of the native plants that bring high income to the people. More than 10 years ago, only a few households planted this plant on a pilot basis, but now the whole village has more than 30 households participating in growing cymbidium with about 2,000 pots. Thanks to the development of this economically valuable plant, many households in the village have escaped poverty.

Mr. Hang A, To Y Phin village, Lan Nhi Thang commune, Phong Tho district, said that his family used to have a lot of difficulties. Seeing that there were some households in the village growing cymbidiums to sell during Tet and earning a good income, his family invested time and effort to gradually develop the available cymbidium pots in their garden. Every year, during Tet, he also sells more than 100 pots. The selling price ranges from 1-3 million VND/pot, depending on the size. From growing cymbidiums, his family has a fairly stable income. Currently, people in the village also grow a lot, in addition to selling his family's plants, Mr. Hang A also acts as a focal point for purchasing and consuming cymbidiums to help people. According to his comments, the income from growing cymbidiums is many times higher than that from growing traditional rice and corn, and at the same time, it requires less effort and cost...

In Sin Suoi Ho village, Sin Suoi Ho commune, Phong Tho district, cymbidium is also a strong plant that helps people reduce poverty and become rich. People have both developed cymbidium into a commodity plant and combined it with community tourism . From 2015 to present, on average, each year the Sin Suoi Ho community tourism site has welcomed nearly 20,000 domestic and international visitors. The combination of tourism and commercial orchid growing has created an income of more than 5 billion VND/year for the people in the village, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction for the people.

Mr. Vang A Chinh, Head of Sin Suoi Ho village, confided: “In addition to income from tourism, one of the main sources of income for households in our village comes from growing orchids. The flower varieties were brought from the forest by the villagers. During the planting process, the villagers have researched and propagated the seedlings themselves and gained a lot of experience in taking care of the plants, thanks to which the flowers are very beautiful and bloom right on Tet. At the end of the 11th lunar month every year, traders come to the village to buy orchids, many people buy the whole garden and then transport it to Sa Pa and some other localities for consumption.”

Currently, the entire Sin Suoi Ho village has more than 30 thousand pots of cymbidium orchids. Some households have a few dozen pots, while others have about 500-1,000 pots. Cymbidium orchids combined with community tourism development have helped many households in the village increase their income, escape poverty and become rich.

According to households who have grown cymbidium orchids for many years in Phong Tho district, this plant is easy to propagate, easy to care for and requires less investment than other crops. People often use sawdust and composted rice husks as nutrients to grow plants. The care process only requires pruning leaves and preventing pests and diseases for the plants. Up to now, in Phong Tho district, Lai Chau province, more than 62 thousand cymbidium pots have been grown in the communes of Lan Nhi Thang, Sin Suoi Ho, Dao San, Mo Si San... making Phong Tho the cymbidium capital of Lai Chau province.

Mr. Tran Bao Trung, Chairman of Phong Tho District People's Committee said: In the coming period, we continue to consider cymbidium as one of the key products of the locality. Currently, the district calls on businesses to cooperate with people to consume products, especially bringing cymbidium flowers from Phong Tho, Lai Chau to the lowlands during the Lunar New Year. This product is also aiming to become an OCOP product and will become a sustainable poverty reduction tree for the people.

Along with developing and expanding the model of growing cymbidiums according to the chain linkage in Phong Tho; currently, some localities such as Tam Duong, Nam Nhun, Sin Ho districts... are also developing this endemic plant. In addition, with the general orientation of Lai Chau province on developing and expanding the area of ​​cymbidiums, ethnic minorities in the highlands will have more opportunities to create a stable source of income, help eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, gradually change the face of the highland countryside as well as diversify products in community tourism villages to attract tourists, increase the economic value of tourism products.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/hoa-dia-lan-cay-giam-ngheo-ben-vung-cho-nguoi-dan-lai-chau-post880283.html