Growing royal bananas in Pieng Pho

(Baonghean) -Coming to Pieng Pho village, Pha Danh commune (Ky Son), everyone can easily see banana groves stretching along the steep mountain slopes. These are royal banana forests that have been planted by the villagers for decades. Every month, the villagers here harvest dozens of tons of green bananas, which are transported downstream by car.

Stopping by the banana hill, chatting with the head of Pieng Pho village, Mr. Lo Van Xuan excitedly said: Out of the 52 households in the village, 50% of them grow bananas. The rest are families of civil servants who do not have forest land. Pieng Pho village was established in 1984, and the banana growing profession in the village has been there since then. Each year, a little more is planted, and now the banana area of ​​the whole village has reached nearly 12 hectares. The banana variety that the villagers grow is the royal banana, people from the lowlands often use this type of banana to burn incense on the 1st and 15th of every month and on holidays and Tet. Therefore, every month, customers from the lowlands drive up by car to buy in large quantities. Therefore, no matter how much is available, it is all sold out, the purchase price also depends on the time.

At this time, the selling price on the spot is 3 - 4 thousand VND/kg, the lowest price in the month near Tet is 20 thousand VND/kg. Every month, when traders come to buy, people go to the banana garden to choose the oldest bunches to harvest. Because bananas are used for incense, the harvesters must also be careful, keeping the banana bunches from breaking or crushing. Every month, Pieng Pho village harvests nearly 10 tons of bananas, selling them to traders to transport downstream for consumption. There are families that grow 1 - 2 hectares of bananas, earning millions of dong in a month. Thanks to the royal banana growing profession, the lives of Pieng Pho people are stable, the rate of poor households is gradually decreasing.

A corner of the banana forest of Pieng Pho village.

The village chief's family grows nearly 2 hectares of bananas, earning at least 1 million VND in normal months, and 5-6 million VND in the last month of the year. Mr. Xuan said that growing bananas does not require any investment in care, and the bananas still grow well. After harvesting the fruit, the banana trees are brought home to feed buffaloes, cows, and pigs, and the banana leaves are dropped into the pond to feed the fish. Banana flowers are picked and sold at the market for 3,000-4,000 VND each. Thus, growing bananas takes advantage of all parts of the tree, bringing practical economic benefits to farmers.

However, to grow bananas effectively, according to Mr. Xuan, growers must regularly clear away weeds and weeds, and monitor each banana bunch to calculate the harvest date. At the same time, they must dig up and prune the young plants and plant them elsewhere. With such effort, the banana tree will grow big and produce many bunches of fruit. Usually, bananas will be ready for harvest after 3 months of flowering. For the type of banana used for incense, it must be harvested while green and not allowed to ripen on the tree. Due to the soil suitable for growing bananas and proper care, the bananas will produce large bunches, many bunches, some of which weigh up to 20 kg.

Having grown bananas for many years, most households in the village raise pigs and use the land to dig ponds to raise fish, and use the surplus products of banana trees for food. For a long time, Pieng Pho people have considered banana growing as their main source of income, so after harvesting bananas, they also plant them in vacant lots, thus the banana gardens have become increasingly larger...

Article and photos:Xuan Hoang