Quy Chau incense industry brings in billions but is 'hungry' for raw materials

(Baonghean.vn) - As a locality with many advantages for growing agarwood, Quy Chau district expands dozens of hectares each year but currently only meets 20-30% of raw materials for incense production villages.

With more than 1.5 hectares of land previously used to grow corn but with low income, Mr. Ha Van Phu's family in Bong 1 village, Chau Thuan commune (Quy Chau) has switched to growing Atractylodes macrocephala. Mr. Phu said that Atractylodes macrocephala is an easy-to-care-for plant, drought-resistant, not picky about soil and has high economic value. With a planting time of 18 months, his family's 1.5 hectares of Atractylodes macrocephala growing area brings in nearly 123 million VND.

The family of Mr. Ha Van Phu in Bong 1 village, Chau Thuan commune (Quy Chau) hired workers to harvest incense roots. Photo: Be Vinh

For nearly 3 years now, agarwood roots have been the main crop that increases income for Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ha's family in Tan Huong block, Tan Lac town. With an area of ​​0.6 hectares, each year Mr. Ha harvests from 17 to 20 quintals/ha; with the selling price of fresh agarwood roots at 15,000 VND/kg, he earns more than 30 million VND/crop. Although growing agarwood roots brings a good income, due to the family's limited land fund, it is difficult to expand the area.

Quy Chau district started experimenting with growing Acacia auriculiformis in 2006, with an area of ​​1ha under the canopy of hybrid acacia. After evaluating the economic value of growing this tree, the district had a policy to encourage people to expand the area, supporting 60% of the seed price for households reclaiming new land for planting.

The areas where the incense roots are planted are on rocky ledges, and the cool climate allows the plants to grow very well. Photo: Be Vinh

Up to now, the whole district has expanded to over 30 hectares, with an average yield of 55 quintals/ha; each year supplying incense-making villages with over 1,600 tons of fresh incense roots. With the current price of 12,000 - 15,000 VND/kg of fresh incense roots, 35,000 VND/kg of dried incense roots, each year incense root growers in the district earn over 2 billion VND.

Although the locality has many advantages for growing agarwood roots, it currently only meets 20-30% of the raw materials for the villages producing agarwood. Ms. Tran Thi Loan, owner of Ha Loan Agarwood Production Facility, said: "Agarwood roots grown on Quy Chau land have essential oils and are much more fragrant than roots imported from other places. To produce over 30,000 agarwood sticks each year, the facility needs up to 9 tons of dried agarwood roots, while the raw materials imported in the district are only over 1 ton."

According to Mr. Ha Van Khuong - Deputy Head of the Agricultural Extension Station of Quy Chau district, investing in growing agarwood roots costs less than other types of plants; the total cost of seeds to grow 1 hectare is about 15 million VND, after harvest the profit is about 100 million VND. However, the model of growing agarwood roots is not worthy of the local potential, currently only providing about 20 - 30% of the raw material demand for traditional incense making villages in the district.

Incense roots grown in Quy Chau are considered by artisans to have better essential oils and fragrance than those grown in other localities. Photo: Be Vinh

Talking about the difficulty in expanding the area of ​​this raw material plant, Mr. Le Hai Ly - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quy Chau district added: "Although there are many policies and mechanisms to support the cultivation of agarwood roots in the district, the expanded area has not met the demand. The reason is that the land fund for growing agarwood roots of households specializing in intensive cultivation of agarwood roots is limited.

At that time, families with large land funds in villages and hamlets lacked funds to buy tree seedlings (the District People's Committee only supported newly expanding families, for example, a family that planted 5 hectares of incense roots, next year increased to 6 hectares, would be supported with an additional 1 hectare), and at the same time, the economic potential of incense roots had not been determined."

Baby Vinh