Since ancient times, the Red Dao people have mastered the knowledge of traditional medicine prepared in the form of bath and soak medicines, which have the effect of restoring health, promoting blood circulation, and preventing and fighting bone and joint diseases. Each bath medicine is usually a combination of dozens of herbs such as honeysuckle, star fruit leaves, camphor, cardamom, tangerine membrane, plum seed... There are medicinal herbs right in the garden, but there are also medicinal herbs that must be found in the forest.
Red Dao women often go into the forest to collect medicinal herbs, then bring them home and boil them in a large pan for many hours to create the finished product. The effects of Red Dao medicinal baths have been proven over time, especially for women after giving birth, people who often catch colds, and people with bone and joint diseases.
Nowadays, Red Dao herbal baths are not only limited to the community but have become a popular commercial product in the market. Many herbal bath service businesses operate and require large quantities of herbs for extraction.
Dao women pick medicinal leaves to sell to service businesses for extra income.
The development of the Red Dao herbal bath service creates challenges that require solutions to preserve natural medicinal resources. Faced with this situation, the Red Dao community discussed and found a solution.
As one of the first Red Dao women to succeed with the business model of herbal baths and some related services and products, Ms. Tan Ta May - Director of the Red Dao Community Cooperative recounts her journey to success from this type of business.
Since she was a child, Ms. Tan Ta May was introduced to medicinal herbs in her garden and on the mountain by her grandmother and mother. When she got married, the traditional medicine profession helped her have a stable income to raise her children to study and grow up. Later, because of her concern to create jobs for local women, not to let Dao women work hard selling on the street and affect the image of Sa Pa tourism , Ms. Tan Ta May established the Red Dao Community Cooperative to do business and produce medicinal baths from community knowledge.
Ms. Tan Ta May said: The cooperative not only buys medicinal leaves from local women, but also provides training on the conservation of medicinal herbs, including techniques for harvesting plants to grow, sowing and planting new ones for some precious medicinal herbs. Now, harvesting and conservation go hand in hand with the awareness of local Red Dao women.
Ly May Anh, Ta Chai village, Ta Phin commune - who has spent 10 years approaching and trading medicinal bath products of the Red Dao community. Ly May Anh shared that since childhood, whenever her legs hurt, her grandparents often used leaves to apply to the wound, so May Anh understood to some extent the uses of some medicinal plants. At the age of 19, May Anh had grasped basic knowledge of medicinal herbs of her community and cherished the dream of producing her own medicinal bath.
That dream has now come true, but what May Anh is most proud of is that she has signed contracts with 9 households who are committed to exploiting and preserving medicinal herbs. May Anh's family is currently growing over 2 hectares with over 50 medicinal herbs, many of which are rare and have special health benefits.
The Red Dao people preserve precious medicinal herbs by harvesting them technically, only picking leaves and pruning branches, not pulling up the roots. For some precious medicinal herbs, they have a plan to plant new ones every spring. The Red Dao people understand which species are easy to grow and which species are at risk of depletion, and from there, they give warnings for reasonable exploitation. Techniques for planting new medicinal herbs at risk of depletion are also cross-trained by knowledgeable and experienced people in the community. In addition, there are always leading experts in medicinal herbs who research and disseminate conservation knowledge to local people.
Preserving precious medicinal herbs has been deeply ingrained in the thoughts and actions of the Red Dao people. The brand “Red Dao bath medicine” has therefore grown, expanded, and is present everywhere, bringing stable income to those who possess that knowledge. Promoting the responsibility of preserving and developing precious medicinal herbs is the right direction, most importantly, so that the medicinal herbs of the Red Dao community can be preserved and developed.
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/su-menh-gac-cua-kho-thuoc-quy-post887492.html
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