Precious medicinal herb garden under the canopy of cajeput forest in Western Nghe An

Garden of purple velvet trees and yellow camellia flowers under the forest canopy

Returning to Yen Hoa commune after many years, we were surprised by the changes in the face of the village. Mr. Dang Van Vien - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee happily said that not only has trade services developed, but the commune also has many new economic development models, typically growing precious medicinal plants under the forest canopy.

“A hundred hearings are not as good as one seeing,” Mr. Vien led us on a walk along the stream into the vast forest of cassia trees, each tree towering high. The reason for such a beautiful cassia forest is that about 30 years ago, the local people had enclosed, protected, and helped the forest regenerate well. Under the year-round shady canopy of the forest, over the past 2 years, the local policy has been to plant medicinal plants, including yellow tea, Morinda officinalis, and purple velvet antler. Thanks to the high humidity and year-round shade, the medicinal plants grow well.

Typically, purple velvet tree has been planted over 3 hectares right under the forest of cassia. Thanks to the investment of households in building fences with barbed wire to prevent buffaloes and cows from entering and damaging it, the survival rate of the trees is nearly 100%, and all the trees grow quickly. After 2 years, the height of the tree is nearly 2m, with lush green leaves. Recently, some households have harvested 250kg of leaves and sold them to a medicinal plant production and processing unit in Con Cuong district at a price of 120,000 VND/kg fresh.

“All medicinal plant seedlings are purchased from Tam Dao (Vinh Phuc) and distributed to people for planting, so everyone is aware of protection. For purple velvet tree, the leaves can be harvested after 2 years, but for ba kích and yellow flower tea, it takes 5 years to be harvested, so along with planting, protection work must always be ensured” - Mr. Dang Van Vien shared.

Mr. Vi Van Chom - Head of Coc village, Yen Hoa commune, also a household implementing the purple velvet tree planting model, excitedly said: Planting medicinal plants is supported by the commune with seedlings and fertilizers; households are responsible for building protective fences. During the care process, no additional investment is required, just regularly cutting down wild plants for the medicinal plant garden to develop.

Due to the difficult economic conditions of the households, people do not have the funds to make concrete pillars, but instead use forest trees to make fence pillars, then buy barbed wire to tie to the pillars in 2-3 layers, nearly 1m high. Doing so increases the durability of the fence, and buffaloes and cows cannot cross it. Protected and well cared for, in the coming years, this purple velvet medicinal forest promises to bring a stable source of income to many households.

Also in the natural forest of Coc village, Yen Tan village, many medicinal plant gardens of Morinda officinalis and yellow tea have been planted for nearly a year. Mr. Dang Van Vien added that after 2 years of planting medicinal plants under the forest canopy, Yen Hoa commune has 3.5 hectares of Morinda officinalis, 3 hectares of purple khôi tree and more than 3 hectares of yellow tea tree. This is the capital source of the National Target Program to support nearly 100 poor and near-poor households to participate in planting. Yen Hoa commune also supports people to grow banana leaves on 3.5 hectares in Canh Khin village.

In addition, the National Target Program's capital also supports 40 poor and near-poor households to raise local yellow cows (each household is provided with 1 breeding cow). Planting medicinal plants, banana trees for leaves and developing local cattle breeding is exploiting the potential of the hilly and forested land, aiming to create livelihoods, aiming at developing sustainable agricultural and forestry production in the locality.

Planning for conservation of valuable medicinal species

Tuong Duong district has the strength to develop medicinal plant cultivation when most of the area is forested hills, with natural forests that are well protected. Accordingly, the district has been developing a project to plan and develop medicinal plants, detailing each area to conserve valuable medicinal species: Medicinal plant growing area under the forest canopy; Medicinal plant growing area concentrated on vacant land and converted agricultural land; Medicinal plant nursery centers and gardens; Medicinal plant purchasing, storage and processing facilities; Medicinal plant products will be invested to meet standards or OCOP.

The district has invited 3 pharmaceutical corporations and companies that are willing to invest and take the lead in the association. Tuong Duong district has also signed a cooperation agreement with Vinh University, according to which, experts will provide technical support to implement the content of growing precious medicinal herbs. The World Environment Fund together with the people in the district have been planting precious medicinal herbs for 3 years, with an area of ​​18 hectares.

Recently, the District People's Committee coordinated with the World Environment Fund to organize a workshop connecting "4 houses" in sustainable medicinal plant development. In particular, for the first time, the development of medicinal plants in the country in general has received investment attention from the Government to exploit potential and advantages, associated with socio-economic development through the National Target Program for the period 2021 - 2025 specifically for ethnic minority and mountainous areas. In particular, content 2 of sub-project 2 - Project 3 is an important part, focusing on investing and supporting the development of precious medicinal plant growing areas, promoting business start-ups, startups and attracting investment in this area.

However, according to Mr. Lo Van Thanh - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture of Tuong Duong district, besides the advantages, the district is facing many difficulties in developing medicinal plants, which are: Lack of cooperation between businesses and people; No project/plan to identify medicinal plant development areas; Lack of large enough nursery and seed supply areas and quality assurance; The list of 100 valuable medicinal plants still has some inappropriate points.

It can be said that planting and developing medicinal plants under the forest canopy not only brings economic benefits but also contributes to the conservation of valuable genetic resources and the protection of biodiversity of natural forests. Therefore, functional sectors and localities need to focus on identifying planting areas for some key medicinal plant species and supplementing policies and mechanisms to attract investment in planting medicinal plants.