Unable to find an output, tens of thousands of rattan seedlings are... 'dying of old age'

(Baonghean.vn) - Tens of thousands of rattan seedlings in a project to support people in Chi Khe commune (Con Cuong - Nghe An) are dying of old age because no one is coming to buy them. While previously, people were promised that they would not have to worry about output.

The rattan nursery of a group of households in Dinh village, Chi Khe commune, Con Cuong district still cannot be sold even though the rattan trees are past the planting age.

According to calculations by rattan nursery households, at the nursery garden of the rattan nursery group in Nam Dinh village, Chi Khe commune, Con Cuong (Nghe An), there are currently more than 10,000 seedlings that have been past their sale date for more than half a year. According to Mr. Le Van Bao, the person in charge of the garden, the nursery has been in existence since 2014, as a result of a project to develop the value chain of rattan and lung trees implemented in the area. The project was invested in and implemented by the Vietnam Plant Breeding Research Institute based in Hanoi in collaboration with OSPAM Hong Kong.

According to some members of the group of households raising rattan seedlings, when implementing the project, the representative of the Plant Breeding Institute promised to buy rattan seedlings. In the first two batches when the project was in progress, the Con Cuong district government organized to buy rattan seedlings from the above group and then distributed them to resettled Dan Lai households in Thach Ngan commune for planting. By November 2015, the rattan seedling project ended. However, before that, in March 2015, the project implementers still brought seeds, fertilizers, and support money (VND 400,000/group/month) to households raising rattan seedlings to produce the new crop. When the rattan reached the age to be sold, people still waited for the project to buy and did not know where to contact to sell or to whom.

The tree nursery project ended halfway, making the group members feel like they were cheated. Many people in the group were upset, saying that this was a “dark cloud” project, “abandoning the child”... “If we had known this, we would not have planted trees, that area would have been more profitable to grow bananas” – Mr. Le Van Bao said.

"Dark cloud" model of households in Dinh village.

Through discussion, Mr. Lo Hong Minh - Chairman of Chi Khe Commune People's Committee said: In fact, the rattan planting project only supports seeds, fertilizers, and care techniques. The goal of the project is to organize rattan and bamboo weaving training for people, but up to now, there are not many people working, so it is impossible to establish a professional group.

According to the representative of the local government: Some of the previous project officers have transferred to other jobs, which is also the reason why the households raising rattan seedlings in Chi Khe have not received proper attention. In that situation, people should have proactively sought buyers because some localities such as Tuong Duong and Ky Son still have demand for rattan seedlings.

The young rattan trees are as tall as a person's head and are still waiting for buyers.

Not only in Con Cuong, in recent times, there have been many projects to promote the value of rattan and fir trees implemented in other mountainous areas in Nghe An province. However, in order for these policies to be effective, more appropriate attention from all levels of the industry is needed.

Vi - Phuong