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 is raining, when you come to the village you still see us at home, but on sunny days, in the village there are only old people and children. People of working age and healthy are all working in 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 have been going out together, if they plant or tap in the 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 a few 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 diligent, hard-working, and working enough days, each month can bring in an income of 10-15 million VND/worker.

“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 planted with cassava, pineapple and wild plants such as sim and mua growing densely, so the people were poor. However, 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 per capita income reaching 60 million VND/year, the whole commune has only 6 poor households left," said Mr. Tran Van Tho - head of Cau village./.