Making a living by picking dried banana leaves

(Baonghean.vn) - For many people, dried banana leaves are useless and do not bring any value to life. However, the job of finding and cutting dried banana leaves has been and is a way of earning a living for many women in the mountainous district of Anh Son. Not only that, this is a stable job and helps them earn a decent amount of money.

The work of cutting dried banana leaves by women in Anh Son district comes from the needs of processing and producing gai cakes in the area. Gai cakes are produced all year round, so the harvesting of dried banana leaves also takes place all year round.

From early morning, Mrs. Le Thi Thang in village 3, Tuong Son commune packed her bags and set out to collect dried banana leaves. The tools she brought were simple, a sickle and a large sack to hold the leaves. Mrs. Thang confided: People who collect dried banana leaves wander everywhere. Every day, Mrs. Thang can earn about 100,000 VND to buy leaves for her regular customers. Each kg is purchased for 13,000 VND, so every day she can earn 100,000 VND.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap, also in Tuong Son commune, said: "This job does not require capital investment, the money earned is considered as profit from labor. The income is several million VND per month, but this job depends on the weather and health. On sunny days, the leaves are dry, so I can cut a lot. On the contrary, in the rainy season, the roads are difficult, the banana leaves get wet, so few people buy them."

The job of picking dried banana leaves seems simple, but it requires meticulous care, because dried banana leaves tear easily, while production facilities prefer to use large, flexible dried leaves, so that when wrapping the cakes, they will be both beautiful and not tear.

For many people, this is a side job but is the main source of income for the family. Currently, in Tuong Son commune, there are about 50 people working in the profession of collecting and buying dried banana leaves. In addition, in other communes such as Duc Son, Vinh Son, Thach Son, Dinh Son, there are also people doing this job, because for them, bananas are grown in the garden, just wait for them to dry and pick them to import to have money to spend. (In the photo: After being picked, banana leaves are carefully and neatly arranged and then imported to the facilities producing gai cakes)

Dried banana leaves are classified after harvesting.

Ms. Bui Thi Ha (right), owner of Tuong Son sticky rice cake production facility, said: Every day, her family produces 800 - 1,000 cakes, so the demand for dry banana leaves is very large, no matter how many families buy them, they have to buy dry leaves to store for the rainy season, this period has a lot of rain so the price is higher than normal at 13,000 VND/kg.

Dried banana leaves are used to wrap gai cake, not only as a simple, rustic image but also as a way to preserve the delicious flavor of this cake.

Xuanzang