Quy Chau incense in season

(Baonghean) -These days, wherever you go in the remote district of Quy Chau, you can smell the fragrant scent of agarwood. Quy Chau agarwood has become a famous brand throughout the country. Thanks to this profession, many families have escaped poverty and become rich.

Tan Lac - Quy Chau town at the end of the year seems to be more bustling because of the working atmosphere of the incense village. Many cars come in and out to transport incense for consumption. Mrs. Dang Thi Khang, nearly 80 years old, is rolling incense, confiding: Making incense is a traditional profession that has existed for a long time, when I was young, my parents taught me the profession of making incense, and now the generations of children and grandchildren also follow, becoming a profession passed down from father to son.

We visited the family of Mr. Phan Cong Ha and Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan with the Ha - Loan incense brand in Block II, Tan Lac Town, this is the largest incense production facility in Quy Chau. The entire large guest house is filled with hundreds of carefully packaged incense boxes waiting for trucks to transport them to consumers. Ms. Loan confided: At first, the family produced on a small scale, hiring 5-7 workers, but due to market demand, the family had to hire 25-30 more workers. On average, each day, they rolled 45,000-50,000 incense sticks, during the last Tet holiday, the total revenue was over 1 billion VND, after deducting expenses, the profit was over 300 million VND. Ms. Loan has 3 agents in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, the incense cannot be made in time for customers to pick up. Ms. Vi Thi Trang in Na Phi village, Chau Hanh commune, who works for Ms. Loan, said: Making incense is contracted based on the product, with an average income of 200,000 VND/day/person. Lang Thanh Tung, a 7th grade student in block II, Tan Lac town, also takes advantage of his days off from school to roll incense for hire, saying: Each session he rolls about 800 - 1000 incense sticks, and is paid 100,000 VND/session.



Ha-Loan incense production facility in Tan Lac Town - Quy Chau.

According to Ms. Loan, the reason her family produces incense on a large scale is because they have built a reputation and brand to ensure prestige. In addition to choosing quality ingredients, to have a fragrant, burning incense, she has her own secret to mixing ingredients.

Ms. Phan Hong Thai's family in Tan Huong - Tan Lac Town has 4 people who are actively rolling incense all day and night to serve the Tet market. Ms. Thai said: 4 people roll an average of 10,000 incense sticks/day. Thanks to this job, she has been able to raise 4 children to study and build a house worth nearly 200 million VND.

Mr. Lo Thanh Son - Head of the Department of Agriculture of Quy Chau district, said: Quy Chau district currently has 3 incense making villages. The total number of households participating in the incense making profession is about 500, creating jobs for thousands of workers. The total revenue from the incense making profession of the people is quite large, from 25-30 billion VND/year.

For the sustainable development of the Quy Chau incense industry, the current difficulty is that the source of raw materials of agarwood roots is increasingly scarce. The whole district has only over 40 hectares of agarwood roots, while the demand is from 200-250 hectares of agarwood roots. Ms. Thai said: The family grows 4 sao of agarwood roots, the yield is over 100 kg of dry roots/sao, selling for 5.5-6 million VND/100 kg of agarwood roots. However, it is still necessary to buy more agarwood roots from other localities. The incense villages need to be proactive in sourcing local materials, and need support from the State to expand the area of ​​agarwood roots and bring in machinery to grind and mix the materials to both reduce labor and increase productivity.

In 2012, Program 135 supported seeds and fertilizers for over 25 poor households to grow over 2 hectares of agarwood. In addition, the Belgian project supported 61 million VND to build a model of growing 2.6 hectares of agarwood for 21 participating households from 3 blocks: Tan Huong, Dinh Hoa, Hoa Hai (Tan Lac Town - Quy Chau). Quy Chau District People's Committee is actively mobilizing people to expand the area of ​​agarwood growing in the sloping hills to meet the needs of incense production villages and consider this an effective poverty reduction profession.

Van Truong