The price of "cooling" leaves has doubled due to shortage.

The recent prolonged heat wave has caused crop failures for growers in Quynh Luu, with yields dropping significantly. Photo: Viet Hung

With 1,000 lang trees planted in the mountainous area, at this time last year, every day, Mrs. Vu Thi Bich Que's family in Quynh Thang commune imported hundreds of bundles of lang leaves to traders, earning an income of 200,000 - 300,000 VND/day. However, the recent heat wave caused the lang trees to lose productivity, causing her family to lose revenue.

“The lang leaf plant prefers to live in mountainous areas and is very heat-resistant, but it still could not withstand the recent prolonged heat wave. In the hot weather, the lang plant produces fewer leaves, and in about 4-5 days my family can only harvest more than 100 bunches; productivity is 3 times lower than last year. Meanwhile, during this time, people's demand for lang leaf to cool down has increased,” said Ms. Que.

The hot weather has made lang leaves scarce and their prices 2-3 times higher than before. Photo: Viet Hung

Previously, during the harvest season, traders often placed orders with households growing the plants and just came to pick them up. However, this year, they had to search mountainous communes such as Quynh Thang, Tan Thang, and Quynh Tan to purchase them.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong, a trader at Giat market, said that this year, lang leaves are very rare so there are no imports. On previous occasions, she ordered 3-5 quintals of lang leaves and distributed them all in just one session. At this time, she contacted communes in Quynh Luu district and some communes in Nghia Dan and Yen Thanh districts...

The plant is harvested year-round, but is most concentrated from February to July. According to market locations in Quynh Luu, fresh leaves are currently priced at 3,000 - 4,000 VND/bunch (2 - 3 times higher than before); dried leaves are priced at 70,000 VND/kg (an increase of 20,000 VND/kg).

Lang leaves are used to make "heat-reducing" dishes during hot weather. Photo: Stir-fried pork intestines with Lang leaves, a "specialty" of Quynh. Photo: Document.

Lang leaves are a typical dish of the people of Quynh, often used to make soup with dried shrimp, herring, freshwater shrimp, stir-fried with offal... Lang leaves are a traditional medicine that has the effect of cooling, digesting food, reducing inflammation, calming the stomach... good for health./.