The meter tree helps Con Cuong people escape poverty

(Baonghean.vn) -For a long time, Con Cuong district has identified three main crops: tea, oranges and cassava, of which cassava is a sustainable poverty reduction crop, grown effectively by ethnic minorities.

This season, going to Con Cuong district to any locality, you can see ethnic people exploiting the meter. Piles of meter are piled up on both sides of the roads in the communes waiting for cars to transport. Every day, trucks carry meter from Con Cuong downstream to serve the needs of construction and processing.

At Mr. Lo Van Ty's meter garden (Tan Huong village, Yen Khe commune), we learned that his family has 5 sao of hilly land, 5 years ago he planted meter trees mixed with acacia. Acacia trees have not been harvested yet, but meter trees have been harvested for 2 years now. The method of harvesting is to cut and prune old trees, so there is a harvest every year. Mr. Ty's meter garden is near the asphalt road so it is easy to sell and has a high price. This year, the selling price on the spot for large, beautiful trees is 8,000 VND/tree, small trees are 6,000 VND/tree. Since the beginning of the year, his family has harvested twice, earning nearly 5 million VND. Mr. Ty said: Although the meter garden area is not large, fortunately thanks to it, the family does not have to worry about food during the lean season.

Mr. Lo Van Ty, Tan Huong village, Yen Khe commune harvests meters.

Along the main road from Mau Duc commune to Binh Chuan, the ethnic people here also exploit a lot of meters. The thing that makes people not very happy is because the selling price is too low. Mr. Ngan Van Duong - Vice Chairman of Mau Duc Commune People's Committee said: The area of ​​meters in the whole commune is about 100 hectares. On this occasion, people exploit a lot of meters, but because the access road is too difficult, the buyers buy too cheaply. Big and beautiful trees are only 5,000 VND. Knowing that it is cheap, people still exploit it, because at this time most families here have run out of food, so meters are the lifesaver.

Mr. Vi Van Quynh - Vice Chairman of Con Cuong District People's Committee, said: For a long time, Con Cuong district has identified 3 main crops, which are orange, tea and meter. However, due to the characteristics of tea and orange trees, the area of ​​tea and orange trees is only concentrated in some localities: Yen Khe, Chi Khe, Bong Khe. Meter trees are planted widely. Up to now, the whole district has about 5 thousand hectares of meter trees in harvest time. In addition, there are hundreds of hectares of newly planted meter trees. Meter trees are planted the most in the communes: Chau Khe, Lang Khe, Mon Son, Luc Da, Bong Khe, Don Phuc, Mau Duc. Meter trees have long been identified by the district as the main forestry tree in Con Cuong, so every year, many localities plant a lot of new trees. The characteristics of meter trees are high sustainability, easy to grow, low investment and little care, so they are suitable for the conditions of the mountainous region of Con Cuong. Although the selling price is unstable, people see this as a tree to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty with long-term effectiveness, so they actively plant and care for it.

It is impossible to count how many meter trees are exploited each year in Con Cuong and how much money is earned, but meter trees are truly the tree that eliminates hunger and reduces poverty for people in Con Cuong district.

Xuan Hoang