The hard work of 'glue carrying'

Harvesting acacia in Quy Chau district. Photo: Van Truong.

At this time, going along the road to the mountainous district ofNghe An, it is easy to see the raw acacia collection points. At the acacia collection point in Chau Tien commune, a group of people are actively loading acacia tree trunks onto cars, everyone is sweating profusely.

Ms. Vi Thi Tan in Chau Tien commune is peeling acacia wood and shares: Her family grows rice and raises livestock at home and has low income, so several women in the village have joined the acacia picking profession for many years. Although this job is hard, every day we have a significant additional income to support our family's life.

Workers, regardless of rain or shine, are peeling acacia wood in Quy Chau district. Photo: Van Truong.

According to the “acacia collectors”, this job requires good health, because the work of harvesting acacia includes cutting down trees, segmenting, peeling bark, loading them onto trucks, which is very hard. Previously, this job only paid 200,000 VND/person per day, but now the price of acacia has increased so the salary has increased to 250,000 VND/person/day.

An acacia buyer in Quy Chau district added: "Every day we have to hire 30-40 local workers, in places near traffic routes it is convenient, but in many places the acacia forests are far from residential areas, we have to use human strength to carry them to the trucks, which is very difficult."

The hard work of carrying acacia wood in Con Cuong district. Photo: Van Truong.

Quy Chau district currently has over 29,000 hectares of raw acacia, every year the district harvests a large area of ​​over 3,000-5,000 hectares of acacia, so the force followsacacia harvestingIn Quy Chau, there are quite a large number of workers, currently there are thousands of workers. In the district, there are over 10 acacia purchasing stations, the main acacia source is exported to Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces for chipping and preliminary processing.

Coming to Tan Ky district this time, the "acacia collectors" are also actively working in the communes of Nghia Dung Phu Son, Nghia Binh, Nghia Hanh, Tan Long... Mr. Tran Van Tinh in Tan Long commune is loading acacia onto a car and confides: At dawn, we have to prepare tools and equipment for exploitation, such as chainsaws, straw knives, and have to "pack rice and rice balls" for lunch while working all day in the forest.

Acacia wood in Tan Ky district is gathered along the roadside, waiting to be loaded onto trucks. Photo: Van Truong.

The hardest part of harvesting acacia is when it rains. Many forests have steep, slippery slopes, making carrying acacia very dangerous. Many times, people fall and scratch their arms and legs. Not to mention, sometimes when harvesting acacia, they "hit" a wasp nest in the forest and get bitten until their face swells.

Some other “acacia collectors” in Tan Ky shared: The acacia harvesting profession here is organized into groups, each group of 7-10 people undertakes harvesting according to the form of area, volume or day contract. Normally, workers are paid daily, from 200,000 - 250,000 VND/person. Currently, jobs in mountainous areas are becoming less and less, people are hired to harvest acacia, earning money to supplement their family's living expenses.

Acacia logging in Con Cuong district. Photo: Van Truong.

Ms. Dang Thi Van, Deputy Head of the District Agriculture DepartmentTan Kyadded: The whole Tan Ky district currently has over 20,000 hectares of raw acacia, annually harvesting over 5,000 hectares, resulting in over 2,000 workers regularly harvesting acacia. In the coming time, the district is implementing a number of raw material routes, facilitating trucks to transport directly to the site to reduce labor in the process of exploiting acacia.

Loading glue onto a truck in Yen Thanh district. Photo: Van Truong.

Nghe An currently has an area of ​​over 170,000 hectares of raw acacia. Acacia exploitation creates jobs for many rural workers, but reveals shortcomings. Because most of the hills are steep and cannot be reached by machinery, the exploitation process is manual, posing many risks and accidents.

Most “acacia collectors” are not equipped with labor protection to protect themselves when exploiting acacia. When work accidents occur, the “acacia collectors” must take responsibility. In the long term, there needs to be a “contract” solution to prevent risks and accidents. Research and application are needed to bring in machinery and equipment to help reduce labor in the acacia exploitation profession.