Kim Phuc Bonsai Village

(Baonghean)-Visiting Kim Phuc Bonsai Village on a day at the end of October, the working atmosphere of the people here is very bustling. This is the time when the villagers are actively preparing for the flower and bonsai market on the occasion of Lunar New Year. Therefore, every household tries to polish each bonsai, shaping the tree to their liking...

Kim Phuc bonsai craft village in Nghi An commune (Vinh city) has 114 households, of which 83 households are engaged in bonsai, accounting for nearly 73%. The total annual production value of the village reaches nearly 8 billion VND, of which the production value from bonsai is nearly 4 billion VND. It is known that since 1982, some households in Kim Phuc hamlet often went to the northern provinces such as Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh... to find a living and discovered that the bonsai flower growing profession was very suitable for the local land conditions, so they experimented with buying seedlings to plant and sell to the Vinh city market. From a few households initially working in the profession, up to now, the bonsai flower profession of Kim Phuc village has developed strongly, the consumption market has expanded throughout the South and the North.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Thang - Secretary of Kim Phuc hamlet Party Cell said: Nghi An commune is a sandy land, in the past, local people often planted trees for firewood and timber. In the years 1980-1982, the elderly in the village planted casuarina and eucalyptus seedlings to sell to Cua Lo, Nghi Xuan - Ha Tinh to plant along the coast. From 1990 to now, the market demand for planting shade trees and ornamental plants has developed. People in the village began to travel to the provinces in the South and the North to buy valuable ornamental plants to bring back to the locality to plant and care for, including: Sanh, Van Tue, Barringtonia, La Han pine, Tuyet pine... to sell to the market in the province and the northern provinces.

The demand for ornamental plants is growing, for about 10 years now, people in Kim Phuc village have learned to make ornamental plants themselves and produce them on the spot. In addition to buying plants to care for and shape, people sow seeds, graft branches, and grow new plants themselves, increasing their income value because they reduce the initial cost of buying plants. Thanks to the development of the craft village, jobs are created for local workers, bringing stable income, and children have better learning conditions. People's lives are increasingly improved, many households that were previously in difficulty, now thanks to ornamental plants, have been able to build high-rise buildings and even buy cars. Previously, the young people in the village grew up without jobs and had to look for work everywhere, but now they have the job of making ornamental plants, earning 150,000 VND/day. Parents are also assured because their children have jobs, are enthusiastic about working and producing, and stay away from social evils. The village is peaceful and warm. Every household competes to renovate mixed gardens, expand nursery and ornamental plant areas.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Thang is also a large bonsai owner in the craft village, with a total garden area of ​​6,000 m2.²Every year, Mr. Thang's family grows 3,000-4,000 shade trees of various types such as mango, black durian, oil palm, Indian sycamore... which are regularly purchased by customers in Vinh, Cua Lo, some districts in the Western part of Nghe An and Ha Tinh. In addition, the garden has more than 50 bonsai trees such as pine, banyan, Indian laurel... valued at 5-20 million VND/tree. In addition, the garden of peach and flowers of various types is prepared to serve the Tet market. Growing bonsai brings Mr. Thang's family an income of more than 150 million VND/year.

Mr. Le Trong Huong's household - Hamlet 4 Kim Phuc has a total ornamental garden area of ​​nearly 4,000 m2.²with hundreds of trees of all kinds: Indian laurel, banyan, ficus, black sorrow, yellow trumpet vine, dwarf areca, shade trees... with a total investment value for the garden of more than 1 billion VND. The profit from the profession is more than 200 million VND/year. Compared to households in the craft village, Mr. Huong's family's bonsai garden is more valuable because it gathers many artistic bonsai trees hugging rocks that are dozens of years old, worth from 5 to 200 million VND/tree. To have a beautiful bonsai garden, Mr. Huong often travels to the provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Ngai, Hue, Da Nang... to collect trees with beautiful and unique shapes. He has had a hobby of playing with trees since he was young, wherever there is a beautiful tree, he will find and buy it. At 53 years old, Mr. Huong has 25 years of experience in bonsai, he is passionate about trees and finds joy in each shape of bonsai. He likes the waterfall shape, the straight shape, the dragon shape the most. Mr. Huong confided: “Trees are like people, if loved and cared for daily, they will become more beautiful and graceful. Every day I admire and meticulously care for my bonsai collection without getting bored. Many of the trees are valuable, customers come to buy them at a good price, but I regret not selling them.”

Kim Phuc bonsai craft village is growing, bringing high income to the people, but the villagers are facing difficulties because the electricity source is too weak, in the summer it is very difficult to pump water for the trees. Every year, when the dry season comes, many households in the craft village suffer massive tree deaths due to the lack of electricity to pump water for irrigation. In the summer of 2010, Mr. Thang's household suffered hundreds of mango trees dying due to the inability to pump water for irrigation, causing a loss of more than 100 million VND. In addition, Mr. Huong's household also suffered the death of 100 oil trees brought from the South due to lack of water for irrigation. "The craft village is using Nghi Loc electricity, the electricity source is so weak that even in winter it cannot cook rice. More than ever, we want a power station to ensure service for the villagers to water their plants" - Mr. Huong said.

Quynh Lan