The precarious profession of climbing the tamarind tree
(Baonghean.vn) - These days, people who work as canarium climbers in the province are busy harvesting black canarium fruits. Canarium climbing is considered a risky job, like "an egg hanging on a stick".
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| In our province, there are quite a lot of people who trade and climb canarium trees. It seems that districts with canarium trees, such as Anh Son, Do Luong, Tan Ky, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong... have many people attached to this profession. They are professional canarium traders who climb and pick canarium trees or just pick canarium trees for hire, and are of many different ages. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| The main fruit-bearing canarium trees in the localities today are pure canarium trees grown from seeds with the characteristic of tree trunks tens of meters high, making them difficult to climb and pick. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| People who work as canarium climbers must be able to climb trees, brave, and in good health. Canarium harvesters usually go in groups of 2-5 people each. Men and boys specialize in climbing and picking, women specialize in picking. The canarium tree trunk is tall and straight, making it very difficult to climb. Many people have to use ladders or even connect two ladders together to climb. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Those who are good at climbing trees can climb without any tools. Mr. Tran Van Mao, 46 years old in Thanh Nho commune (Thanh Chuong), said: Thanh Nho commune has nearly 100 workers who collect canarium, and there are nearly 20 households in the hamlet that trade canarium. They almost "buy" all the canarium in Thanh Chuong and Anh Son. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Many people who climb trees use ropes to climb trees. One end of the rope is tied to the body, the other end is tied to a tree branch, the climber will swing along the rope to climb the tree. During the process of picking canarium, the rope is also their safety equipment. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Climbing a canarium tree is difficult, picking the canarium fruit from the tree is even more difficult. The canarium fruit is small, black, and difficult to see among the green leaves. The canarium climber must use all the techniques of standing, sitting, holding on... to pick the canarium fruit. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Mr. Nguyen Van Kien (37 years old), a "professional" canarium picker in Thanh Linh commune (Thanh Chuong), said: Canarium branches are brittle and break easily, climbing canarium to pick fruit has many potential risks. For him, every time he climbs a tree, he has to wear a safety rope, especially when picking small canarium branches that stretch far out, without a safety rope it is easy to cause an accident. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Many people do not need safety ropes, still climb and walk on tree branches, very easy to slip. Mr. Tran Van Ky (61 years old), a long-time climber of canarium trees in Thanh Tien commune (Thanh Chuong) shared: Recently, in the localities, there have been many occupational accidents related to the profession of climbing canarium trees, causing some people to break their arms, legs, become paralyzed, die... especially Mr. Nguyen Thien Dat (37 years old) in Khanh Son commune (Nam Dan) who fell while picking canarium trees and became paralyzed and has been in a wheelchair for several years now. He himself also fell from a canarium tree and broke his bones and had to be treated in the hospital for a long time. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| According to those in the profession, when picking canarium, avoid climbing up and down many times, wasting time and effort, so they must finish picking the canarium tree before sliding down to the base. They often take breaks on the tree, drink water, drink milk to regain strength and then continue working. Mr. Nguyen Thien Vu (24 years old) in Khanh Son commune (Nam Dan) said: Khanh Son commune currently has more than 10 people climbing canarium. Because there are not many canarium trees in Nam Dan, canarium traders in his hometown mainly climb canarium trees in Huong Son district (Ha Tinh). Photo: Huy Thu |
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Picking canarium fruit is hard and arduous. Each working session, a group of 3-4 people can only pick about 50-80 kg of canarium fruit. The canarium harvest season lasts from July to September, creating jobs for many workers in the province. Canarium pickers are paid 500-600 thousand VND/day, canarium pickers are paid 300 thousand VND/day, and half-day is 200 thousand VND. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| This year's canarium season, the price of young canarium is not much different from last year, but the price of ripe canarium sold on the market has dropped sharply due to the Covid-19 epidemic, so people who "sell whole canarium trees" (buy young canarium) and also climb canarium trees are not as happy as in previous years. Folklore often says "Canarium picking is like an egg hanging on a stick", the daily wage may be higher than some other manual labor jobs, but there are many potential risks, sometimes even having to pay with one's life. Photo: Huy Thu |
| The hard work of picking canarium fruit. Video: Huy Thu |
