Getting rich from growing Buddha's hand on the Red River alluvial land

In the context of low and unstable agricultural prices, many farmers leave their fields to go to the city to earn a living. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoan, 37 years old in Lien Chau commune, has seen a "bright path" to get rich on the flooded alluvial land that can only grow one crop of Buddha's hand trees. After 4 years of implementation, Ms. Hoan's model of growing Buddha's hand trees on nearly 2 hectares of alluvial land along the Red River in Ba Trai field, Lien Chau commune is known as a creative and highly economically effective method, and is being replicated in the local area of ​​the riverside alluvial land.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoan next to the Buddha's hand garden that is being harvested.

Love the tree - the tree will not let down the person

With a hard-working appearance but very agile and active, with an open personality, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoan, originally from Dac So commune, old Hoai Duc district ( Hanoi ) shared the story of implementing the Buddha's hand planting model right in the garden. When we first met, we felt sympathy and admiration for her determination and spirit of overcoming difficulties. Ms. Hoan led us to visit the Buddha's hand garden that was being harvested. Looking at the Buddha's hand trees full of fruit, green in the cool alluvial land, they brought in quite a high income compared to other crops, especially, creating stable jobs for 3-5 workers with an income of 5-7 million VND/person/month.

Chi Hoan said: Because her family has been growing Buddha's hand for many years, they found it profitable but did not have land to expand. She is a "workaholic" person, not wanting to "sit around doing nothing" while still having to work to raise her children to go to school. In 2021, after surveying the land along the Red River in Lien Chau commune, she realized that farmers had abandoned a lot of land, so her family contacted and borrowed nearly 2 hectares of land in Ba Trai field - Nhat Chieu village, Lien Chau commune to plant Buddha's hand. Thinking and doing, Ms. Hoan discussed with her husband to buy materials, watering machines, hire workers, plows to prepare the land, and dig furrows to plant Buddha's hand on nearly 2 hectares of Ba Trai field along the Red River. Ms. Hoan said that if the harvest and price are good, getting rich from Buddha's hand is not far away. Because this is a plant of the oil family, businesses really need it to produce Southeast Asian medicinal essential oils for beauty purposes to serve the needs of life.

To effectively implement the Buddha's hand planting model on high humidity "cold soil" alluvial land, prone to flooding in the rainy season, Ms. Hoan had to ask experts and experienced technicians in the province and the Central Institute of Crops to find out and propose useful solutions to implement in practice. In addition, she also researched some models in and outside the province, and searched online to learn from experience. The initial investment cost for planting Buddha's hand seedlings is not large, about 30,000 VND/tree. However, the lifespan of the tree for harvest is 4-5 years; each tree produces about 30 kg of fruit/year, with a yield of 13-15 tons/ha. It is estimated that after deducting costs, the profit will reach 120-200 million VND/ha/year.

After 2 years of planting, caring for and applying scientific and technological techniques, in 2023, her family's Buddha's hand garden produced fruit all year round, with an average of 30 - 50 fruits/tree. With a selling price of 5,000 - 10,000 VND/fruit, during Tet, the average selling price of 50 - 100 Buddha's hand bonsai trees brought the family nearly 500 million VND. In 2024, due to the impact of floods, the family only earned 300 million VND. It is expected that in 2025, the family will earn about 500 million VND from selling Buddha's hand bonsai.

The fruit is inedible but easily consumed and has a high price.

According to Hoan, Buddha's hand is not a difficult plant to grow, but to have a garden of Buddha's hand with beautiful fruit, "many fingers" and high selling price, the grower must clearly understand the growth rules of the tree such as: Fertilizing must be done periodically, combining chemical fertilizers with biological fertilizers without fertilizing too much and fertilizing evenly because if too much or too little, the tree will die. Particularly, fertilizing with high-grade fertilizers, chicken manure composted with rice husks, pig manure must be processed, ensuring the fertilizer is cool because if the fertilizer is still hot, the tree will die. Buddha's hand fruit is not edible, but the potential to get rich from this "hand of Buddha" fruit is very large, because the fruit has a mild aroma, a long preservation time of 1 - 4 months. In particular, this fruit is also purchased by many businesses and units to make aromatic essential oils, so the consumption market is very open. Therefore, it requires growers to understand the "temperament" of the tree, and common diseases on the tree, the tree is very sensitive to thrips and aphids. If the disease is not treated promptly, the tree will produce poor, ugly fruit, or even no fruit. Every day, she has to check the tree, the young fruit stage, pests and diseases, promptly detect pests and diseases to handle the technique so that the tree can be managed properly and look good.

Buddha's hand shaped potted plants and fruits from Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoan's garden are sold on the occasion of Lunar New Year for 100,000 - 200,000 VND/potted plant.

Replicating the economic model

After more than 4 years of implementation, the Buddha's hand growing model of Ms. Hoan's family is one of the 3 pilot models of the commune that has shown high economic efficiency on the land along the Red River. Her Buddha's hand growing model for selling essential oils has created opportunities for many people in the area and outside the commune to visit, learn from and replicate experiences. Thereby increasing income, improving life, contributing to shifting the economic structure towards concentrating on goods that bring high value to many people in the area. Ms. Hoan said that she wants to prove that this product has high economic efficiency, replicate it typically and anyone in need will share her experience from propagating seedlings, taking care of ornamental Buddha's hand to sell on Tet holiday with high efficiency.

Chairman of Lien Chau Commune People's Committee Do Hai Dang said: Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoan's family is a typical household in the commune, daring to think, daring to do, diligently learning science and technology to apply in converting crop structure, contributing positively to changing the way of thinking and doing of people in the commune to promote family economic development, promoting the goal of building a model new rural area of ​​the locality. Up to now, the whole commune has over 20 households growing Buddha's hand with an area of ​​about 25 hectares and the growing area will continue to be expanded in the coming time.

Xuan Hung

Source: https://baophutho.vn/lam-giau-tu-trong-phat-thu-tren-dat-bai-song-hong-239458.htm