Nghi Hung broom

(Baonghean) -No one remembers exactly when the broom making profession in Nghi Hung commune (Nghi Loc) began, but until now, everyone in the village, from children to the elderly, knows how to do the profession. The traditional profession brings income and stabilizes the lives of local workers.

Broom production in Xuan Son broom craft village (Nghi Hung commune).

We returned to Nghi Hung on a hot day in mid-May. Under the hot tin roof, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh - wife of Mr. Ho Van Nhan in hamlet 10, was skillfully weaving each centipede leg to make the broom strong and durable until the brush was worn out. His family is also the household that produces the most brooms in this craft village. In addition to working, Mr. Nhan also goes to the mountainous districts of Quy Chau, Que Phong, Ky Son and even to neighboring Laos to buy raw materials to supply to local people for production. Many households lacking capital are allowed by Mr. Nhan to buy raw materials on credit until the end of the season. Thanks to the kindness of the couple, many households in the craft village have raw materials for production, ensuring jobs. Each season, Mr. Nhan buys 100 tons of raw materials for his family's production and supplies to local people.

Thanks to the initiative in raw material sources, Mr. Nhan's family produces all year round. On days when he is not busy with seasonal work, he, his wife and their eldest son focus on making 50 brooms/day, with brooms priced from 25,000 - 35,000 VND/broom. Every 5 days, Mr. Nhan transports a shipment to wholesale to suppliers in Cua Lo Town, Vinh City and some districts of Ha Tinh Province. He is 44 years old this year, but has been in the profession for more than 30 years. This hereditary profession has helped his family develop the family economy, raising 4 children to study. Although not really rich, Mr. Nhan is also famous in Xuan Son Broom Craft Village with a year-round production scale of brooms, specializing in importing for large suppliers. In 2013, his family made 10,000 brooms, and sold them all, after deducting the cost of purchasing raw materials, they still had a net profit of more than 10 million VND/month. At the end of the year, when consumption is stronger, his family has a profit of more than 15 million VND/month from making brooms.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhu, originally from Nghi Thiet, has been married to Nghi Hung for 40 years, which is also the same amount of time she has been making brooms to earn money to raise her children and cover her living expenses. With many children, 8-9 sao of rice fields are just enough to provide food and livestock, the broom making profession has helped her family stabilize their lives. In previous years, when her children had not yet started their own families, every year she bought 1.5 tons of dry brooms for them to make extra. Now, there are only two people working in the family, working hard all day to make 10 grade I brooms, selling for 35,000 VND/broom, minus the cost of buying raw materials like thatch and rattan, the net profit is 170,000 VND/day. With many years of experience, careful work, and beautiful, durable products, Mrs. Nhu has customers coming to order every day. Some order for personal use, others buy as gifts for relatives far away in the South and the North. The broom is simple and not worth much, but it is a simple and practical gift for every family.

With 40 years of experience in the profession, Ms. Nhu shared: To have a beautiful and durable broom, the raw material for making the broom must be young, dried bamboo shoots, avoiding mold, but the rattan fibers must be old, flexible, dried bamboo shoots, ensuring durability. The broom maker must carefully polish each bamboo shoot, each weaving step, weaving the centipede legs to spread the broom evenly, the more weaving, the more centipede legs are ensured to spread the bamboo shoots evenly, the more durable the broom is, the broom handle must be tied with a bee knot to be sturdy, sweeping until the shoots are all worn out without falling apart.

Mr. Dau Huu Khanh - Head of Xuan Son Broom Craft Village said: The broom making profession in Nghi Hung has existed for a long time. In the past, local people often went to the forest to collect brooms to make brooms, and sold them at markets to serve the needs of local people and neighboring communes... Hamlet 10 has 113 households, of which 68 households make brooms. The advantage of this profession is that the elderly, children, and students can all do it. Making brooms is not difficult, but it requires the producer to be meticulous and careful in each weaving step to have a beautiful broom that is trusted and chosen by consumers. Nghi Hung brooms are never unsold, all the products are sold out, the workers only worry about not having the capital to buy raw materials to produce a lot.

Nghi Hung commune has 2 broom making villages, including Xuan Son broom making village and Khe Cu broom making village, with nearly 120 households working in the profession. Previously, people in these 2 villages were the poorest in the commune. In recent years, the broom making village has developed, people's lives have improved, they have conditions to build houses, buy means of living, and their children can go to school. In 2013, both villages consumed about 380 tons of raw materials for production, the total revenue from the broom making village was about 9.4 billion VND, minus production costs, the net profit was over 3 billion VND. However, the biggest concern of the craftsmen today is the lack of capital to buy raw materials, the broom plant only has one season a year, concentrated in the first few months of the year, so people need a large amount of capital to buy in reserve. Furthermore, natural resources are increasingly depleted. Without solutions to grow raw materials, it will be difficult to develop craft villages in the future...

Quynh Lan