Growing wild bananas for leaves, many households in the highlands of Nghe An earn half a million VND/day
(Baonghean.vn) - By boldly converting low-yield hilly land growing rice and corn to growing wild banana leaves, many households in Luu Kien commune, remote Tuong Duong district (Nghe An) have a good income; during peak season it can be up to more than 500,000 VND per day.
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| The area of banana leaf cultivation of Mrs. Vi Thi Mai's family in Khe Kien village, Luu Kien is about 3.5 hectares. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
According to Ms. Vi Thi Mai, residing in Khe Kien village, Luu Kien commune, her family used to mainly grow corn and rice but it was not effective. In 2017, watching on TV that some localities in Thanh Hoa grew bananas for leaves to sell and brought in high income, Ms. Mai's family boldly switched to growing bananas.wild bananatake leaves (banana seeds).
In order to save money on buying seeds, her family went into the old forest to get seeds to plant. Initially, they planted 2,000 experimental plants. After only 1 year of planting and caring for them, they had leaves to sell. Currently, about 3.5 hectares of the family's hilly land are covered with green bananas.
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| Every day, Ms. Mai's family earns more than half a million VND from selling banana leaves to traders. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
Ms. Mai shared: Banana leaves are easy to grow, grow and develop quickly, and do not require much time to care for. In particular, these banana leaves are tough, so they are very popular with traders. Banana leaves always have a stable price and are easy to sell. Currently, the selling price fluctuates from 4,000 - 5,000 VND/kg, and near Tet, the selling price is double. Every day, 2 people can cut about 150 kg. My family's daily income from selling banana leaves is not less than 600,000 VND. My family does not take the banana leaves home to sell, but traders come to our house to buy them and supply them to establishments making spring rolls, sausages, cakes, etc.
In addition to selling banana leaves, my family also supplies banana seeds and banana stems to families raising livestock and poultry. Before, our family's conditions were difficult, but since growing banana leaves has brought in a stable income, so our life has become more and more prosperous.
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Banana trees are almost fully utilized, while the medium leaves (not too old, not too young) are used for sale, the old leaves and banana tree trunks are used as food for fish, goats, buffaloes, cows, etc. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
To take advantage of old banana tree trunks and banana leaves, Mrs. Mai's family raises fish and goats. Currently, there are 2 fish farms with a total area of nearly 400m2.2and 20 goats. Thanks to the abundant food source from banana trees, the livestock grows quickly and brings in an income of not less than 50 million VND per year from raising fish and goats.
In Khe Kien village, Ms. Mac Thi Tien's family also has a stable income from growing banana leaves. With an area of less than 1 hectare, Ms. Tien's family earns no less than 7 million VND per month.
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| Nowadays, not only the Thai people, but also many Mong people grow and protect banana trees. In the photo: Mong women carry banana leaves to make fish food. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
Ms. Tien said: “Growing banana leaves is easy to sell, and has a daily income. Every day you go to collect leaves, you have money. Every month, you can earn at least 7 million VND. Growing corn, squash and some other crops is hard work but the income is not high. Many years, the harvest is good but the price is low, the price is good but the harvest is bad, so the income is unstable. Growing bananas has leaves to sell and stems to raise fish, buffalo and cows. My family currently has about 1 hectare of bananas, and in the near future, I have plans to expand the area.”
It is known that currently, the whole Luu Kien commune has 94 households growing banana leaves with an area of over 24 hectares, of which Luu Thong village has 62 households growing and protecting bananas. Seeing that the model of growing banana leaves brings high economic efficiency, in recent times, many people in Luu Kien commune have implemented the model and it is showing results.
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| Some communes in Tuong Duong district came to visit and learn about the model of growing wild banana leaves from farmers in Luu Kien commune to apply in their localities. Photo: Dinh Tuan |
Ms. Luong Thi Hong, civil servant of Land and Agriculture of Luu Kien commune,Xiangyangsaid: “Growing bananas for leaves does not require much care, the cost of planting is low; basically, the original variety, then the bananas grow on their own. Bananas for leaves are very suitable for the soil conditions in mountainous areas, so they can be harvested after only about 5 months of planting. In the coming time, the commune will continue to propagate to local people to expand the area to increase income for people, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction”./.
