Nghe An: Hamlet has 28 trucks and 400 workers planting and exploiting acacia

Vast acacia hills in Cau village, Lang Thanh commune. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“Today it’s raining, you come to the village and still see us at home, but on sunny days, there are only old people and children in the village. People of working age and healthy are all working to make glue,” said Mr. Tran Van Khuong, a resident of Cau village.

In addition to hilly land and indigenous forest land, Cau villagers also buy forest land in neighboring communes such as Kim Thanh, Tien Thanh and even in Tan Ky district to grow acacia. There are households with acacia areas of up to tens of hectares, harvesting a crop every 5 years, selling thousands of tons of acacia, bringing in billions of dong in income, such as households of Mr. Tran Van Khuong, Tran Nguyen Son, Dao Chinh Thai, Dao Chinh Binh...

The whole village has 28 trucks transporting glue. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In particular, in Cau village there are currently 28 trucks, 28 acacia tapping teams with 300 workers and 10 teams specializing in planting and weeding acacia with nearly 100 workers. Acacia planting and tapping work all year round, all month long, only on rainy and stormy days do they stay home. From 5am, acacia working teams go out together, if they plant or tap on hills in the commune or neighboring communes, they leave in the morning and return in the evening. If they go to work in far away districts, they may not return until several days, or even half a month.

28 acacia exploitation teams create jobs for 300 local workers with an income of 300,000-500,000 VND/day/worker. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Acacia tapping has become the main occupation, bringing a good income to the people of Cau village. On average, a worker tapping acacia is paid 350,000 - 500,000 VND per day. If they are diligent, hardworking, and work enough days, they can earn 10-15 million VND per month.

“The whole hamlet has 230 households growing acacia with an area of ​​nearly 3,000 hectares. Not only growing acacia, in the hamlet there are also about 30 households specializing in purchasing acacia; dozens of households specializing in supplying acacia seeds to acacia growers in the province. Before 2000, the forest land in Cau village was mainly used for growing cassava, pineapple and wild plants such as sim and mua, so the people were poor. Since 2000, acacia trees and the acacia profession have helped the people of Cau village “change their lives”.

Planting and exploiting acacia has become the main occupation of the people of Cau village. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Cau village has risen from a poor hamlet to a prosperous one, with a per capita income of 60 million VND/year, and the whole commune has only 6 poor households left," said Mr. Tran Van Tho - head of Cau village./.