Prospects of Nghe An ginseng brand
With its terrain and climate characteristics that are very suitable for the growth and development of hundreds of precious medicinal herbs, the Western Nghe An localities have opened up a new direction for development. In particular, the economic prospects from ginseng are showing positive signs, contributing to the realization of the Vietnam Ginseng Development Program that has just been approved by the Government.
Growing ginseng under protective forest canopy
The border commune of Na Ngoi is more than 50km from the center of Ky Son district, but now the roads have been solidified, cars can enter most of the village centers. Na Ngoi is also a locality with a cool climate, high terrain and a large forest coverage rate, very suitable for the growth and development of precious medicinal herbs, including ginseng. Realizing this potential, currently in Na Ngoi there are large companies and corporations investing in large-scale ginseng planting under the forest canopy.
At Buoc Mu 1 village, right next to the main road leading to the commune center, although the summer weather is as hot as fire, when entering the Ngoc Linh ginseng growing area located on the gentle slope of the protective forest area of Na Ngoi commune, the air is still cool and full of the characteristic humid smell of the dense forest. Mr. Le Hoang - Head of the Ky Son Protective Forest Management Board said that the Ngoc Linh ginseng growing model was first implemented in Ky Son district thanks to the policy of leasing protective forest land; opening up a new direction for economic development in Na Ngoi commune in particular and Ky Son district in general.
Citing the scale and form of Ngoc Linh ginseng cultivation in Na Ngoi, the manager of the breeding area of Ngoc Linh Ginseng Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company in Buoc Mu 1 village said that the company's investment goal is to grow precious medicinal herbs in Na Ngoi on nearly 20 hectares, planning to grow Phu Xai ginseng, Ngoc Linh ginseng, and wild Panax pseudoginseng. Currently, the company is focusing on breeding Ngoc Linh ginseng. The nursery in Buoc Mu 1 village has deployed more than 3 hectares equivalent to 60,000 seedlings.
Also in Na Ngoi commune, in Buoc Mu 2 village bordering the Vietnam - Laos border, where the altitude is quite high and the climate is cold, located right at the foot of Puxailaileng mountain range, there are currently more than 10 hectares of land where TH Group is growing Puxailaileng ginseng and other precious medicinal herbs under the protective forest canopy. Taking advantage of the space under the forest canopy, where the slope is small, they will plant directly on the ground, where the slope is high, the beds will be planted on supports about 1m high from the ground and covered with nylon to both prevent frost and keep the plants moist. Every day, the ginseng growing area here often has 5 - 8 workers taking care of the precious plants. And most of them are local people.
“Working for the company, close to home and with a high and stable income, many people no longer have to go far to work, we are very happy” – said Vu Ba Ca, a worker.
In addition to Na Ngoi, TH Group has also built the Muong Long Medicinal Herbs Conservation and Development Center in Muong Long Commune. To date, this center has propagated and planted about 3,000 That Diep Nhat Chi Hoa plants, 100,000 Panax notoginseng plants, 1,000 Puxailaieng ginseng plants, 200,000 Thach Hoc orchid clumps and thousands of seedlings of other medicinal herbs.
Mr. Lau Chia Long, an official of the medicinal herbs area, also a local of Ky Son, said that in addition to the goals of developing and preserving ginseng and precious medicinal herbs, this place also creates jobs for dozens of local workers.
Enhancing the value of medicinal herbs of Nghe An
In addition to Ky Son, Tuong Duong is also a locality with a plan to develop precious medicinal plants, including a model of growing seven-leaf ginseng in Tam Hop commune. The leader of Tam Hop commune People's Committee said that from 2021, the ginseng growing project in Pha Lom village will have a scale of 20 participating households. Mr. Xong Ba Ca's household will be the first to implement it with an area of about 400m2.2Up to now, 5 more households have successfully created ginseng gardens from natural seedlings harvested from the forest, bringing the total area of 7-leaf, 1-flower ginseng in the commune to about 0.7 hectares.
Households participating in the project said that their families were instructed on ginseng growing techniques and funded to find natural sources of seeds to grow in their home gardens. The ginseng growing project in Tam Hop commune is expected to have a scale of 20 households, and is currently waiting for disbursement in 2024 to expand the scale. Initially, after 4 years of planting, households began to have income at a price of about 1 million VND/kg of ginseng under 5 years old. However, the families also said that they determined this to be a "reserve tree", expected to take care of it for over 10 years before selling it to gain higher profits than selling ginseng that is less than 5 years old as it is now.
In June 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang signed Decision 611/QD-TTg approving the Vietnam Ginseng Development Program to 2030, with a vision to 2045. The scope of the program is localities with potential and strengths in natural conditions suitable for the cultivation and development of Vietnamese ginseng, including 9 provinces, including Nghe An; striving to make Vietnam a major ginseng producer in the world by 2030.
Along with ginseng conservation and breeding, the goal of the Vietnam Ginseng Development Program is to achieve ginseng exploitation output of about 300 tons/year by 2030, equivalent to an exploitation area of about 1,000 hectares/year, ensuring origin, meeting GACP - WHO standards (good farming and harvesting practices) or equivalent. At the same time, invest in and build facilities for preliminary processing and deep processing of Vietnamese ginseng products associated with raw material areas, chain production, of which about 50% of facilities produce products meeting GMP-WHO quality standards.
During the inspection and working session with localities and companies, ginseng planting projects in March 2024, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De also affirmed that the investment of large companies in ginseng planting in Na Ngoi and Muong Long are steps to realize this policy in accordance with the regulations and goals set by the Government, requesting businesses to properly implement production and business goals.
Accordingly, after the planting and breeding stages, ginseng will be deeply processed into branded products that can compete in the international market, have high export value, and create an important source of income for businesses and localities.
At the same time, it also helps to enhance the value of medicinal herbs in Nghe An, contributing to increasing the effectiveness of the Project "Investment in precious medicinal herb growing areas" in the period of 2021 - 2025, under Sub-project 2, project 3 of the National Target Program on socio-economic development of ethnic minority areas of the province.
