Escape poverty from forestry nursery business

(Baonghean) - The forestry seedling nursery business has brought practical economic benefits to many people in Ngoc Son commune (Quynh Luu district). From the nurseries, millions of seedlings are sold, contributing to the greening of the forests and also helping people here increase their income.

Due to the local characteristics of being a hilly area with abundant water resources, forestry seedling nursery has long been attached to and become the main occupation of many households here. This year, despite the prolonged hot weather, the seedling nurseries in Ngoc Son commune are still lush and green thanks to proper care and regulation of irrigation water.

While taking care of the varieties in the nursery, Ms. Ho Thi Loan in village 2 said that this year, her family has planted 3 sao of seedlings (each sao is 500m2), estimated at more than 500,000 trees of various types such as: eucalyptus, lat hoa, sua, acacia, xoan dau... Since the beginning of the season, her family has proactively invested in building automatic watering pipes, buying more generators, soil preparation machines, and building more water filters, so despite the hot weather, the seedlings still grow well. "If everything goes well after selling, after deducting expenses, we can make a profit of 50 - 60 million VND," Ms. Loan excitedly shared.

Nursery of Mr. Ho Sy Nam's family in village 3, Ngoc Son commune (Quynh Luu).

Previously, nursery households in Ngoc Son often applied seed sowing techniques, but recently with the application of technical advances, people have gradually switched to the form of cuttings. This method helps seedlings grow quickly, produce wood, and is less likely to fall during storms. Many households have also boldly borrowed capital to expand the scale of their nurseries, applying technical measures to the care process, so the seedlings are favored by the market. The seedlings produced in the commune have been supplied to forest growers in the area from Nghe An to Thua Thien - Hue.

Ngoc Son commune currently has nearly 40 households working in the nursery business, mainly in hamlets 2 and 3 with an area of ​​nearly 3 hectares, mainly producing acacia, cajuput, eucalyptus, lat hoa, sua, acacia, xoan dau... each year supplying the market with tens of millions of seedlings, contributing to significantly increasing income for the people. The local nurseries have contributed to bringing green to the forest, while also helping people earn more income.

From the profession of tree nursery, many families in Ngoc Son commune have risen up to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, getting rich right on their homeland. We visited the family of Mr. Ho Sy Nam and his wife in village 3. In the spacious high-rise house, Mr. Nam excitedly said: In the past, the family mainly relied on agricultural production, so economic conditions were difficult, and they tried many jobs but could not escape poverty. Realizing that this land was suitable for the profession of forestry tree nursery, the couple boldly borrowed capital to invest. In the early days when they first started, they also encountered many difficulties when the capital was still modest, experience and techniques were lacking... Especially when the seedlings had grown well but could not find an outlet. But the hardships eventually passed, when many places needed seeds to plant forests, so this profession gradually developed...

Every year, Mr. Nam and his wife's nursery sells 4 batches, each batch about 200,000 - 300,000 seedlings of all kinds. At current selling prices, such as: flower lat variety 2,000 VND/tree, sua 5,000 VND/tree, acacia and xoan dau 600 VND/tree, custard apple 3,000 VND/tree... In addition, his family also buys seedlings from people in the commune to supply to familiar customers. "Each year, after deducting expenses, the family also earns about 60 - 70 million VND. Thanks to that, the couple can build a house, the children can go to school properly, not only enriching the family but the nursery also creates jobs for 10 - 12 local workers with a salary of 1.5 - 2 million VND/month", Mr. Nam shared.

In recent years, many families in village 2 and village 3 of Ngoc Son commune have become rich from the forestry nursery model. People harvest 3-4 crops a year and each crop earns an average of 15-20 million VND/sao, depending on the season. That result not only contributes positively to hunger eradication and poverty reduction for the people but also contributes to the whole Ngoc Son commune in completing the criteria of "employment and income" in the roadmap to build new rural areas of the commune in 2015.

Hoang Thuy

(Quynh Luu Radio)