Mountainous communes learn to make incense to increase income

(Baonghean.vn) - Thanks to proactive access to incense roots and available materials, many farming households in Cao Son commune (Anh Son) have learned to make incense to increase their income.At this time, households are busy with Tet.

Thanks to proactively growing 30 hectares of incense roots, people in Cao Son commune have had an additional job of making incense to increase their income. Photo: Thai Hien

The entire Cao Son and Anh Son communes currently have over 30 hectares of incense roots planted on hilly land. Taking advantage of this available source of raw materials, in recent years, some Cao Son households have invested in buying machines and learning the craft of making incense. At this time, incense-making households are busy preparing for the Lunar New Year.

Present at the incense production facilities in Cao Son commune, we encountered the brilliant colors of thousands of incense bundles being hurriedly dried by households after the cold spells in time for the approaching Lunar New Year. At the incense production facility of Mr. Le Canh Hong, village 9, Cao Son commune, the working atmosphere these days is extremely urgent.

Taking advantage of this available source of raw materials, in recent years some Cao Son households have invested in buying machines and learning the craft of making incense. Photo: Thai Hien

Mr. Hong shared: The incense making profession is busy all year round, with the highest consumption on holidays, full moon days, especially during Tet. Currently, there are many types of incense on the market, but Cao Son incense still retains its unique characteristics because the ingredients are grown by the people themselves, so it has a light, elegant fragrance, burns deeply, and rolls beautifully. This year, customers ordered 150,000 incense sticks. To be proactive in production, since the 7th lunar month, we have focused on human resources and materials to make Tet goods. Currently, the facility creates jobs for 5 workers. During the Tet production season, his family earns nearly 10 million VND per month after deducting expenses.

At this time, incense makers are busy preparing to sell during the Lunar New Year. Photo: Thai Hien

On this occasion, to ensure enough quantity of goods delivered to customers on time, Mr. Tran Duc Tien’s incense production facility in village 4, Cao Son commune has to work overtime regularly. These days, just stepping into the gate of his production workshop is enough to smell the fragrant aroma.

Mr. Tien shared: In 2015, his family invested in an incense making machine worth 30 million VND to reduce manual work. Last year, during Tet, his family made 50,000 stick incense sticks and 30,000 agarwood incense sticks each month, but this year the number of incense sticks must increase 5-6 times.

Mr. Tien added: “The incense making profession is related to the spiritual world, so the heart of the profession does not allow for carelessness or poor quality. Since October, the facility has started producing Tet goods. Currently, Mr. Tien imports the incense produced at a price of 9,000 VND/bud of agarwood and 2,500 VND/bud of incense sticks. On average, after deducting expenses, his family earns nearly 10 million VND per month. This year, due to the large number of incense customers ordering, his family had to hire 4 more households in the village to keep up with the demand.

Package incense before delivering to customers. Photo: Thai Hien

Ms. Cao Thi Lien - President of the Women's Union of Cao Son commune said: Realizing that incense making is a promising profession, the raw materials are made by the people themselves, contributing to creating jobs for the people, increasing family income, from 2015 to now, the Women's Union of Cao Son commune has coordinated with the District Women's Union and the Nghe An Provincial Promotion Center to open 4 incense making training classes for 90 members to participate in order to improve their skills. Currently, the whole commune has 3 households investing in machinery and opening production workshops.

Although there are many types of incense on the market made by industrial methods, mixed with many chemical additives to create the scent, incense makers in Cao Son are still loyal to traditional incense production technology. To have beautiful, especially fragrant incense buds, Cao Son incense makers must be meticulous in every step, from preparing the ingredients to make incense powder, incense sticks, and then wrapping incense to make the finished incense sticks. Cao Son people are hoping that this will be an effective sideline job that contributes to poverty reduction in the locality./.

Thai Hien