Potential of medicinal plants

Lai Chau, a mountainous border province located in the extreme Northwest of the country, is blessed with vast primeval forests. The climate here is cool all year round, with ideal altitude and humidity for the growth of many rare medicinal plants. Lai Chau has all the favorable conditions to become a key medicinal plant production area.

Leaders of Sin Ho District People's Committee visited the medicinal plant garden in Phang So Lin commune. Photo: Lai Chau Newspaper

Medicinal plant development platform

According to statistics, the whole province currently has hundreds of medicinal plant species with high economic value and medicinal properties such as: cardamom, notoginseng, angelica, purple amomum, polygonum multiflorum... and especially Lai Chau ginseng, a rare native ginseng variety that is being focused on by the locality to preserve and propagate.

Many areas of the province such as Tam Duong, Phong Tho, Sin Ho, Muong Te... have attracted large-scale medicinal plant growing projects, contributing to the formation of sustainable raw material areas. Not only aiming at economic development, medicinal plant growing in Lai Chau also contributes to forest protection, biodiversity conservation, towards ecological and circular agriculture , in line with the orientation of green and sustainable development.

With the goal of effectively exploiting existing strengths, Lai Chau has issued many specific policies, notably Resolution No. 38/2019/NQ-HDND on developing some medicinal plants in the period of 2020-2025, with a vision to 2030. Recently, the Provincial Party Committee continued to issue Resolution No. 17-NQ/TU on developing Lai Chau ginseng in the period of 2024-2030, with a vision to 2035, with the goal of expanding the ginseng growing area to about 3,000 hectares, with an output of 30 tons/year by 2030 and aiming to build a national ginseng brand, entering the international market.

At the same time, the province has implemented policies to support seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides for some medicinal herbs such as Lai Chau ginseng, seven-leaf orchid, and golden orchid. Other support contents include: seed conservation, development of planting, care, breeding, packaging, product labeling, application of science and technology, and quality standardization according to GACP-WHO standards or equivalent. Many models and projects related to planting, breeding, and intellectual property protection for precious medicinal herbs have been implemented synchronously, including the granting of codes to six ginseng growing facilities with more than 250,000 plants.

Highlights from effective models

In the picture of medicinal development in Lai Chau, Lai Chau ginseng emerges as a special plant with high value, both in terms of medicine and economy. This ginseng species grows naturally at an altitude of over 1,800 m, in the primeval forest, where the climate is cool, humidity is high, and the land has not been affected.

In the highland commune of Khun Ha, native ginseng is identified as a key crop in the process of restructuring the agricultural economy and sustainable poverty reduction. From spontaneous models, the locality has planned concentrated growing areas, attracted investment from enterprises, and organized production according to the value chain. Accordingly, enterprises undertake the techniques and output, while people contribute land and labor for care. This linkage model is showing clear effectiveness.

Currently, Khun Ha commune has planted more than 24 hectares of Lai Chau ginseng, aiming to expand to more than 30 hectares in the near future. Local authorities encourage people to expand the area, while creating favorable conditions for businesses to invest long-term and establish cooperatives to ensure sustainable development.

In Ngai Thau Cao village, people proactively propagate ginseng from nature and replant it in old forests to regenerate local medicinal resources. This method not only helps preserve precious varieties but also creates stable livelihoods for people.

Mr. Cu A Chinh, one of the households participating in growing ginseng, shared: Thanks to training and technical guidance, people are increasingly confident in taking care of ginseng. The income from ginseng helps people feel secure in sticking with the profession, gradually improving their lives and effectively reducing poverty.

Another typical model is the San Phang Cao Native Ginseng Growing Veterans Cooperative, established in 2023. With nine members, the model operates in the form of contributing efforts and money, together protecting and developing ginseng growing areas. This is a new direction with a high sense of community, helping to increase income for members, protect forests and preserve precious medicinal gene sources.

It can be affirmed that developing medicinal plants is the right direction, suitable for the natural conditions, terrain, climate and potential of Lai Chau. In the context of the increasingly expanding domestic and foreign medicinal market, if there is a methodical strategy, from preserving genetic resources, developing raw material areas, building brands to organizing production according to the value chain, Lai Chau can completely rise to become a national medicinal plant center.

From highland areas like Khun Ha, the journey of developing medicinal herbs has begun, with ginseng as the core, along with dozens of other precious medicinal herbs. This is an opportunity for the locality to build its strength in green - clean - sustainable development, contributing to improving people's lives, protecting the environment and affirming Lai Chau's position on the map of medicinal herbs in Vietnam and internationally.

Dai Kim

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tiem-nang-cay-duoc-lieu-post900634.html