From July to early October, many Rai people in Ham Can commune (Ham Thuan Nam district) pack rice and bring water to go to the forest to harvest bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots are a supplementary source of income for the people, in addition to agricultural production.
When the rainy season begins, the Rai people here take advantage of their free time to go into the forest to harvest bamboo shoots. From early morning, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh from Hamlet 1 busily prepares her meal, water, and bags to head deep into the forest to harvest bamboo shoots to sell and earn extra income to support her daily life. According to Ms. Binh, starting in July, when the forest rains appear, people in the area go into the forest to find bamboo shoots to sell. The bamboo shoots that sprout from the ground are harvested, peeled, and brought back to sell to earn extra income. Ms. Binh said: "Compared to previous years, the bamboo shoot harvest this year is lower. On lucky days, we find a lot of bamboo shoots and earn about 200,000 - 300,000 VND, but sometimes we find few and only earn a little over 100,000 VND. If you work hard, you can still earn some income." Similarly, many Rai women in the area also take advantage of this time to go into the forest to find bamboo shoots. After a day of searching for bamboo shoots in the forest, Ms. Mang Hang and her daughter harvested over 15 kg of wild bamboo shoots. With this harvest, she earned over 200,000 VND, providing her with extra income to buy daily meals for her family and save up for school supplies for her daughter in preparation for the new school year. According to bamboo shoot pickers, the job of gathering wild bamboo shoots seems simple but is very arduous and sometimes dangerous. They face many risks such as encountering snakes, leeches, and being pricked by thorns…
According to locals, Ham Can forest has several common types of bamboo shoots named after different bamboo species, such as Le bamboo shoots, Lo O bamboo shoots, Da bamboo shoots, and Gai bamboo shoots. Among these, Gai bamboo shoots are the most economically valuable and popular due to their sweetness and the fact that they can be cooked, reheated, and stored for a long time. Therefore, Gai bamboo shoots fetch the highest price, 16,000 VND/kg, while other types are bought for 6,000-7,000 VND/kg. After harvesting, people usually bring the shoots to collection points to be processed into dried bamboo shoots. Consequently, at this time of year, many people in Ham Can commune also open collection points for fresh bamboo shoots harvested by locals and process them into dried bamboo shoots. According to a local bamboo shoot collector, 10 kg of fresh bamboo shoots, after boiling, slicing thinly, and drying, will yield 1 kg of dried bamboo shoots. Dried bamboo shoots from the thorny bamboo species are priced at 280,000 VND/kg, while dried bamboo shoots from the Le species cost 150,000 VND/kg. After being dried, the bamboo shoots are distributed to markets throughout the province. Dried bamboo shoots are especially popular and frequently purchased by people because they are an indispensable part of Tet (Lunar New Year) dishes.
Although harvesting bamboo shoots is hard and arduous work, it provides an additional source of income to help the local people during difficult times while they wait for the harvest season in their fields.
Source
Comment (0)