Earn more than 10 million VND/month from growing "wild" bamboo for bamboo shoots

Bamboo shoots are a familiar food in the daily meals of Vietnamese people in many regions. Currently, in Cam Lo district, there are many models of growing bamboo for bamboo shoots, but Mr. Hanh (Cu Hoan village, Cam Nghia commune, Cam Lo district - Quang Tri) is the first person to grow Can Giao bamboo for bamboo shoots.

Mr. Hoang Huu Hanh next to a row of Can Gao bamboo planted to harvest bamboo shoots to sell as food.

Mr. Hanh's family garden is located on a barren hilly area. Previously, he planted some crops such as cassava, but the economic efficiency was low. Mr. Hanh said that in 2005, he started to plant some bamboo clumps to preserve the soil because his family's farm has a steep slope.

After the bamboo clumps grew bamboo shoots, he found that Can Giao bamboo shoots were of good quality, with little fiber, sweet, crunchy, high quality, and delicious flavor. He used part of the bamboo shoots as food for his family, and the rest was sold to households in the area and neighboring areas. Unexpectedly, Mr. Hanh's Can Giao bamboo shoots were popular with many people and sold at a very high price.

Mr. Hoang Huu Hanh shares his experience in growing Can Gao bamboo for bamboo shoots.

Seeing the economic potential of Can Giao bamboo, Mr. Hanh started to improve the land and plant more in the hill garden, learned about bamboo growing techniques from books and newspapers and sought advice from agricultural extension officers of Cam Lo district.

Sharing his experience in growing and caring for Can Giao bamboo to produce many shoots, Mr. Hanh said: “The advantages of Can Giao bamboo are that it is easy to grow, drought-resistant, does not require much care and rarely has pests. Bamboo shoots do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers and are considered clean and safe food, so many people love it. Any excess land, fallow land, and sloping land can be used to grow bamboo. Just plant once and then harvest the long shoots.”

Mr. Hanh added that Can Giao bamboo brings high income. Up to now, he has expanded the area of ​​Can Giao bamboo to 1 hectare with 200 clumps. After about 3 years of planting, the bamboo will produce bamboo shoots. The time to harvest bamboo shoots can last from 10 to 15 years depending on the soil quality and care techniques.

The Can Giao bamboo shoot season lasts from February to October every year. At the end of the bamboo shoot harvest, it is necessary to calculate the amount of plants in each bamboo clump and leave the shoots to grow into trees. At the same time, growers must dig up old bamboo roots to help the soil to be airy so that the bamboo shoots growing from other underground stems have better conditions to grow.

Currently, each Can Giao bamboo clump of Mr. Hoang Huu Hanh always maintains a stable 8-10 mother bamboo plants. Usually, each mother bamboo plant will produce 3-5 bamboo shoots/crop. During the bamboo shoot picking season, on average, Mr. Hanh's family harvests 50 kg of fresh bamboo shoots per day, selling for 7,000 VND/kg.

Farmers from many localities in Cam Lo district come to Mr. Hanh's Can Gao bamboo "forest" to visit and learn.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Hai, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Cam Nghia commune, said: "The model of growing Can Giao bamboo for bamboo shoots by Mr. Hoang Huu Hanh, in addition to increasing the family's income, also contributes to limiting the negative impacts of climate change; contributing to effective land use, preventing landslides, increasing land cover, improving the environment...".