Bac Tra My people increase economic value of the medicinal herb Millennium

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue successfully produces essential oils and ginseng extract. Photo: PHAN VINH

Bac Tra My forest has many medicinal herbs

Ms. Hue used to study tourism business with the desire to bring a new breeze to her mountainous homeland. In the process of learning about the strengths of her locality, Ms. Hue found that Tra My mountain forest has abundant medicinal resources that are not inferior to the provinces in the Northwest mountainous region. Some herbs contain high amounts of medicinal substances such as cinnamon, ginseng...

Among the local medicinal plants, Ms. Hue is particularly interested in the thousand-year-old plant, a medicinal plant containing the active ingredient linalool, which has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and was used by our ancestors to repel insects, relieve pain after trauma, reduce anxiety and relax... This plant grows abundantly in the primeval forests of Tra My.

Tra Giap Commune has many types of herbs used to supplement traditional oriental and traditional Vietnamese medicine. Photo: PHAN VINH

"Previously, traders bought millenniums in large quantities, and Tra Giap people often picked them, dried them, and waited to sell them. However, there were times when traders bought large quantities at high prices, causing people to flock to the forest to harvest them in an exhaustive manner. Traders only came to buy for a few days and then left, causing people to have a lot of stock left over, which spoiled after a long time and had to be thrown away. Faced with that situation, I felt very sorry and thought I had to do something to avoid being put in such a passive position by traders again," said Ms. Hue.

[ VIDEO ] - Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue shares the reason for implementing the Millennium Medicinal Herbs model:

With the knowledge learned from the oriental medicine preparation course at Tue Tinh Medical College (Hanoi) and with the advice of Dr. Ngo Duc Phuong - Director of the Institute of Traditional Medicine Science , Ms. Hue has successfully extracted essential oils from the plant, prepared the plant massage balm, without the need for methanol but still helps reduce shoulder and neck pain, and reduce bone and joint pain.

In particular, with its gentle fragrance, reminiscent of the typical mountain forest scent of the millennium, this type of extract is also used as a type of dry natural perfume to help treat depression, reduce stress and repel insects.

The root of the plant has antibacterial and pain-relieving properties... and was used by ancient people to treat bone and joint diseases. Photo: PHAN VINH

"During the survey and sending samples for testing, we discovered that the herbs in the forests of Tra Giap commune and Bac Tra My district contain many essential oils with quite high medicinal content. It is not by chance that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recognized the cinnamon forest in our village 4 as a superior cinnamon variety because the cinnamic aldehyde content reaches 95%. The linalool content in the millennium present in Tra Giap reaches 69.5%, while in other areas it is only about 40 - 55%" - Ms. Hue shared.

Value chain linkage

Around May 2023, Ms. Hue coordinated with a number of local people with expertise in medicinal herbs to establish the Ban Boa Agricultural and Medicinal Herbs Production Cooperative to invest in expanding the production model of products from the Millennium tree and other herbs in Tra Giap commune and Bac Tra My district. Currently, this cooperative has launched two product lines on the market: Millennium tree extract and Millennium tree essential oil.

Ms. Hue is distilling the essential oil of the millennium plant. Photo: PHAN VINH

Ms. Hue said: "Because I live in a mountainous area, I encountered many obstacles in the process of selling products. However, thanks to the support of cooperative members and the local government's introduction to participate in many trade promotion programs, the products have become known to many people. In addition, Ban Boa Cooperative is also interested in e-commerce channels, looking for ways to livestream sales, so the market is increasingly expanding."

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The linalool content in millennium in Tra Giap reaches 69.5%, while other regions only reach about 40 - 55%.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue - Ban Boa Cooperative, Bac Tra My

Currently, along with online retailing about 10 liters of essential oil and 100 boxes of extract per month, Ms. Hue also supplies dried millennium herb to pharmaceutical companies. A 10ml bottle of essential oil or a 10gram box of extract costs 150,000 VND.

The cooperative has cooperated with 10 households in Tra Giap commune with nearly 20 hectares to grow millennium in fruit gardens. According to the results of a pilot model in Thanh Hoa province, after about 2 years, ^1m2 will yield 2kg of fresh millennium tubers.

In addition to the ginseng extract and essential oil, Ms. Hue also produces other herbal teas. Photo: PHAN VINH

"The millennium is a plant that grows under the canopy of a dense forest, so we are still exploiting it in the wild. In order to preserve the genetic resources and avoid overexploitation, Ban Boa Cooperative regularly organizes training for people before entering the forest to exploit, only picking old tubers, taking the part with the highest medicinal content, keeping the leaves close to the tubers so that the plant can continue to grow, not uprooting the whole plant like before" - Ms. Hue shared more.

[VIDEO] - Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue shares about upcoming value chain development plans:

Mr. Nguyen Van Phung - Chairman of Tra Giap Commune People's Committee said that in the past, the locality has created all conditions for Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue to organize and implement economic models. In particular, priority is given to the Ban Boa Agricultural and Medicinal Products Production Cooperative to rent and use the unused classrooms of Tra Giap Primary School (Village 2 branch) for production activities.

"The locality also introduced and guided Ms. Hue to participate in trade promotion programs, especially participating in the province's startup talent search contest in 2023 and winning third prize.

With the model of linking the value chain of growing millennium with the people of Ms. Hue, in the coming time, the locality will study support according to the National Target Program on poverty reduction so that the project has conditions to develop further" - Mr. Phung said.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/nguoi-dan-bac-tra-my-nang-cao-gia-tri-kinh-te-cho-cay-thao-duoc-thien-nien-kien-3142942.html