Quy Chau incense is in season.

(Baonghean)These days, wherever you go in the remote district of Quỳ Châu, you'll be greeted by the fragrant aroma of incense. Quỳ Châu incense has become a famous brand throughout the country. Thanks to this craft, many families have risen out of poverty and become wealthy.

The town of Tan Lac - Quy Chau seems more bustling at the end of the year due to the working atmosphere of the incense-making village. Many cars come and go, carrying incense for sale. Mrs. Dang Thi Khang, nearly 80 years old, while rolling incense, shared: "The incense-making craft is a traditional profession that has existed for a very long time. When I was young, my parents passed the craft down to me, and now the children and grandchildren are following in my footsteps, making it a family tradition passed down from father to son."

We visited the family of Mr. Phan Cong Ha and Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan, owners of the Ha-Loan incense brand, in Block II, Tan Lac Town. This is the largest incense production facility in Quy Chau. The entire spacious guesthouse was filled with hundreds of carefully packaged incense sticks, awaiting transport for distribution. Ms. Loan shared: Initially, the family produced on a small scale, employing 5-7 workers, but due to market demand, they had to hire an additional 25-30 workers. On average, they produce 45,000-50,000 incense sticks per day. During last year's Tet holiday, total revenue exceeded 1 billion VND, with a profit of over 300 million VND after deducting expenses. Ms. Loan has three distributors in Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Thanh Hoa, and they can't keep up with the demand. Ms. Vi Thi Trang from Na Phi village, Chau Hanh commune, who works for Ms. Loan, said: "Making incense sticks is paid per product, with an average income of 200,000 VND/day/person." Lang Thanh Tung, a 7th-grade student in Block II, Tan Lac town, also takes advantage of school breaks to roll incense sticks for hire, saying: "Each session I roll about 800-1000 incense sticks and get paid 100,000 VND/session."



The Ha-Loan incense production facility is located in Tan Lac town, Quy Chau district.

According to Ms. Loan, the reason her family produces incense on a large scale is because they have built a reputation and brand to ensure credibility. Besides selecting high-quality raw materials, she has her own secret blend of ingredients to produce incense that burns well and smells fragrant.

Ms. Phan Hong Thai's family in Tan Huong, Tan Lac town, consists of four people who are actively rolling incense sticks day and night to serve the Tet market. Ms. Thai said: "The four of us roll an average of 10,000 incense sticks per day. Thanks to this profession, I've been able to support my four children's education and build a house worth nearly 200 million VND."

Mr. Lo Thanh Son, Head of the Agriculture Department of Quy Chau District, said: Currently, Quy Chau District has three incense-making villages. The total number of households involved in incense making is over 500, creating jobs for thousands of workers. The total revenue from incense making is quite substantial, ranging from 25-30 billion VND per year.

For the incense-making craft in Quy Chau to develop sustainably, the current difficulty is the increasing scarcity of agarwood root raw materials. The entire district only has over 40 hectares of agarwood root, while the demand is for 200-250 hectares. Ms. Thai said: Her family planted 4 sao (approximately 0.4 hectares) of agarwood root, yielding over 100 kg of dried root per sao, selling for 5.5-6 million VND per 100 kg. However, they still have to buy additional agarwood root from other localities. Agarwood-making villages urgently need to proactively secure local raw material sources and require government support to expand the area of ​​agarwood root cultivation and introduce machinery for grinding and mixing raw materials, which would reduce labor and increase productivity.

In 2012, Program 135 provided seeds and fertilizers to over 25 poor households, enabling them to cultivate over 2 hectares of agarwood trees. In addition, a Belgian project provided 61 million VND to develop a model for cultivating 2.6 hectares of agarwood trees for 21 participating households in three hamlets: Tan Huong, Dinh Hoa, and Hoa Hai (Tan Lac Town - Quy Chau District). The Quy Chau District People's Committee is actively encouraging residents to expand the area for agarwood cultivation in gently sloping hills to meet the needs of incense-making villages, considering it an effective poverty alleviation activity.

Van Truong