Opening up economic development from purple ginseng

Traveling nearly 100 km from the center of Bac Giang ward, following Highway 31, we arrived at Van Son commune. The winding steep roads, dark green mountain slopes and the mist covering the village seemed to welcome visitors from afar. Here, ethnic minorities are writing a story of change from their homeland's mountains and forests by developing purple Morinda officinalis - a precious medicinal plant that has been associated with them for generations.

Representatives of Van Son Commune Farmers' Association visited the purple ginseng growing model of its members.

Van Son commune was formed on the basis of merging the two old communes of Van Son and Huu San; with a natural area of 73.99 km² (more than 6,500 ha), a population of 6,049 people with 8 villages. This is a place where 10 ethnic groups live together in solidarity, of which ethnic minorities account for 97.51%.

As a mountainous commune with 88% of forestry land, Van Son has many advantages in developing forestry and medicinal plants. Taking advantage of that potential, in recent years, the locality has encouraged people to switch from low-efficiency forest planting to growing medicinal plants with high economic value. Purple ba kich trees, which grow naturally on mountain slopes, are now being brought to concentrated planting areas to form commodity areas. The Commune Farmers' Association has actively implemented the "Project to develop the purple ba kich commodity area of Son Dong district for the period 2022 - 2026" with a mechanism to support 70% of seed and fertilizer costs according to technical standards. Thanks to the support of the State, people have boldly expanded the area, bringing the total area of purple ba kich trees in the whole commune to nearly 14 hectares, concentrated in San and Dan 3 villages.

Not only expanding the area, Van Son commune also built a chain of medicinal plant development links. The commune People's Committee proactively connected with businesses in purchasing and consuming products; at the same time, promoted the establishment of professional associations to support each other in varieties and care techniques. Some households such as Be Van Trong, Dinh Van Dai, Dinh Van Quyet have boldly invested in large areas, bringing in stable income.

The family of Mr. Be Van Trong, a Dao ethnic group in San village, used to only grow forest trees. Thanks to his perseverance in learning and bold conversion, he now has nearly 1 hectare of purple ba kích, along with several hectares of forest and other fruit trees. Mr. Trong shared: “With purple ba kích, weeding and tilling the soil are very important. In the first two years, I weeded and tilled the soil 4-5 times a year to keep the soil loose and limit the growth of fungi and diseases. Because it is a medicinal plant grown for its roots, no herbicides are used.”

According to people's experience, the three-legged plant is suitable for loose, well-drained soil, planted at the foot of hills or under the canopy of forest trees, which will produce beautiful, high-quality purple tubers. The plant needs to be weeded regularly, covered to retain moisture, fertilized with organic fertilizer and staked for the vines. The older the plant, the bigger and darker the tubers, the greater the value. Calculations show that 1 hectare can grow more than 20,000 plants, each plant can harvest 1.5 - 2 kg of tubers, the fresh tubers sell for 200 - 220 thousand VND/kg. Each hectare of purple three-legged plant can bring in billions of VND in revenue, profits many times higher than those of acacia and eucalyptus.

Ms. Luu Thi Hoa, President of the Farmers' Association of Van Son Commune, said: "Developing purple Morinda officinalis not only helps increase income and improve living standards, but also changes people's production mindset, from small-scale production to commodities linked to market linkages. In the coming time, we will continue to promote and mobilize members to switch to growing this variety of plant. In particular, we will find solutions to build a deep processing model to exploit multiple levels of value, increase economic efficiency, create jobs, and sustainably reduce poverty."

Article and photos: Khoi Nguyen

Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/mo-huong-phat-trien-kinh-te-tu-cay-ba-kich-tim-postid429289.bbg