The hard work of 'playing with dirt' to earn money in Nghe An

Tan Huong commune area (Tan Ky) is home to many establishments.seedling nursery, mainly trees for forest planting such as acacia, eucalyptus, rosewood, etc. To promptly meet the demand for buying trees in large quantities from forest owners, nursery facilities are forced to hire people to pack soil into pots. Therefore, a labor force specializing in packing soil into pots was born.

Workers diligently sit to make tree pots. Photo: Tien Dong

To get 300,000 VND in wages, each day the workers making soil pots must make more than 10,000 pots.

Ms. Ha, residing in Hamlet 9 (Tan Huong), has been doing this job for many years, her hands deftly taking the bags that were stepped on under her feet, scooping up soil and putting it into the pots, then compacting and arranging them neatly. Every movement and gesture was repeated like a machine. Seeing my surprise, Ms. Ha smiled, saying that after a long time, you will get used to it. Making 10,000 pots of soil a day is not a simple matter. Not to mention that there are times when the price of seedlings is cheap, so the cost of making pots is also cheap.

"At this time, the price of seedlings is high, each acacia sapling costs 500 VND, and each sapling costs 5,000 VND, so we can also benefit" - Ms. Ha laughed.

Grind the soil to make potting soil. Photo: Tien Dong

Ms. Ha said this job is a "dirt playing" job. The soil to make pots is scooped into a grinder by others, mixed with synthetic fertilizer, then dumped into a pile for the women to work on. On cool, calm days, they can earn 300,000 VND, but on hot days of 39-40 degrees, sitting in the sun all day makes everyone dizzy, and they can't make 150,000 VND. Not to mention that when it rains, the soil becomes soggy that it can't be packed. So there is no income.

After finishing, the soil balls are neatly lined up to facilitate counting and payment. Photo: Tien Dong

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, Tan Minh hamlet (Tan Huong), who specializes in calling workers to make pots for trees, said: People who do this job initially determined it was a part-time job, only doing it when they had free time from farming at home. But gradually, due to the need to make pots every day, they work continuously, becoming a job that provides their main income. People who make pots for trees in Tan Huong never run out of work, it's just that if the price of the tree is high, the garden owner will pay more for making pots and vice versa.

After finishing one garden, they go to another garden. After finishing the pots for the acacia trees, they move on to pots for the teak and mahogany trees. If the pots are big, the salary is also higher.

After finishing the potting, others will be responsible for planting the seedlings into the pots. Photo: Tien Dong

After completing the soil potting, garden owners must hire other workers to plant seedlings in the pots.

For the tree thenseedsAfter germinating in the ground for a few weeks, they will be transplanted into pots. Plants with large, hard seeds or cuttings will be transplanted directly into pots. Usually, a group or team will take on the task of making pots and transplanting seedlings. There are also people who are only familiar with transplanting seedlings. The daily wage ranges from 150,000 to 170,000 VND.

Unlike potting, the person in charge of transplanting the tree into the pot must be more careful and gentle to avoid breaking the sapling. Photo: Tien Dong

Ms. Nguyen Thi Vinh, in Lang Rao (Tan Huong), rides her motorbike to Tan Minh hamlet every day to plant seedlings in pots for the garden owner. Ms. Vinh has been doing this job for 2 years. Although it is hard work, especially sitting outside all day, causing people in this profession to often suffer from spinal degeneration and herniated discs, they have to accept it to ensure they can take care of their family.

Mr. Nguyen Hai Nam - Vice Chairman of Tan Huong Commune People's Committee shared: More than 10 years ago, some local households built their own nursery model.forestry seedlingshighly effective, later many households followed. Up to now, the whole commune has nearly 200 households building tree nurseries, providing seedlings for almost all provinces in the North Central region. Since the development of tree nursery, it has become a new direction for local people.

The whole Tan Huong commune has 10 hamlets, the tree nurseries are mainly in the hamlets of Tan Minh, Tan Son, Chau Nam, people in the remaining hamlets come to these hamlets to work, creating a diverse labor force. Some people specialize in potting, transplanting, weeding, turning trees, some people grind soil or trade seedlings to sell to people in need in other localities./.