Earn "fresh money" from digging "forest treasure"

At this time, people take advantage of going into the forest to pick bamboo shoots to earn extra income. Photo: Thai Hien

Arriving at Khe Trang Thuong village, Tho Son commune, Anh Son district early in the morning, the women in the village divided into 3-4 groups to go to the forest to pick bamboo shoots. Ms. Vi Thi Dan - who has many years of earning a living by picking wild bamboo shoots shared: Every year, when this season comes, most of the women in the village pack rice, bring water and invite each other to go to the forest to pick bamboo shoots. To get to the place to pick bamboo shoots, everyone has to walk from early morning, through the forest for more than 1 hour to get there. On days when there are a lot of bamboo shoots, Ms. Dan can pick 50-60kg, on days when there are less, she can pick 30kg. With the current price of 8,000 VND/kg of fresh bamboo shoots, she can earn about 400,000 VND per day.

But to pick bamboo shoots, in addition to traveling far, one must also endure many other "accidents". Ms. Vi Thi Lan in Khe Trang Thuong village, Tho Son commune shared: "Wild bamboo shoots in Anh Son are mainly bamboo shoots, reed shoots, and bamboo shoots that are only as big as a knife handle, thin and soft, so breaking this type is simple. But in the process of going into the forest to pick bamboo shoots, thorns, and bamboo roots cut and scratch the limbs, causing bleeding; and then the deep, humid forest causes many leeches, clinging to people's legs to suck blood, which is a common thing." Despite the hardship, for Ms. Lan and the villagers, this season's bamboo shoots are not only a family's reserve food during the rainy season, but also a product that brings in a large source of income for the family.

After being harvested, bamboo shoots are imported to traders and processed into dried bamboo shoots. Photo: Thai Hien

Coming to the bamboo shoot purchasing and processing point of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nga's family at the end of Khe Trang Thuong village, Tho Son commune, from the yard to the house is full of bamboo shoots. Mrs. Nga said: "Currently, it is the season to process dried bamboo shoots to sell for Tet. Every day, her family buys more than 300 kg of fresh bamboo shoots from local people and has to mobilize up to 4 people to do everything from boiling bamboo shoots, splitting bamboo shoots, and drying bamboo shoots to keep up. This year, from the beginning of the season until now, her family has made about more than 1 ton of dried bamboo shoots, this amount of goods has been collected and consumed by traders in Do Luong district, Vinh city."