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Planting areca on the hill, the garden is beautiful like a movie set, and farmers count money evenly

In recent years, when areca trees have found output from drying for export, people in the Tien Phuoc district – the land of areca in Quang Nam, have become more and more prosperous thanks to this crop.

Tien Lanh and Tien Ngoc communes, Tien Phuoc district are considered the land of areca. Areca covered all the gardens of the house, “eating life in life” with the people here from generation to generation.

Planting areca on the hill, the garden is beautiful like a movie set, and farmers count money evenly
Tien Ngoc and Tien Lanh communes in the Tien Phuoc district are known as the land of areca trees with many 1-2 ha areca gardens (Photo: Ngo Linh).

Sticking with areca trees and witnessing how many times the price of areca has dropped dramatically, but never have people intended to turn away and destroy the areca garden to find and plant a tree of more economic value. 

The land of 2 communes, Tien Lanh and Tien Ngoc, has mountainous terrain, making agricultural production relatively difficult. Areca, accordingly, is a traditional tree that has been attached to the people since ancient times, suitable for the climate and soil here.

Areca is a traditional crop in Tien Phuoc, suitable for the mountainous terrain and soil conditions here (Photo: Ngo Linh).

Taking us to visit his family’s nearly 2-hectare areca garden, Mr. Phung Van Xuan (Tien Lanh commune) proudly said that his garden is often chosen as a local model garden of areca.

Currently, his garden has more than 2,000 trees, of which 1,500 are 15-17 years old, 500 are about 7-9 years old, and a few are newly planted. Cau is quite old, over 50 years old. In his garden, there are still some plants grown from the time of his parents (1950s).

According to Mr. Xuan, areca begins to bear fruit, when it is 5-7 years old, farmers only plant once and then take care of it, and harvest the fruit every year. The areca tree has a long life, so the garden is often maintained and continued from generation to generation.

Areca flowers bloom from January, to June of the calendar, the harvest begins. On average, each crop his family harvests more than 3 tons of fresh areca, selling at prices ranging from 35,000-80,000 VND/kg. Depending on the time, the average total income from areca orchards is about 200 million VND/year.

“Fresh areca is harvested after harvesting, traders will bring cars to pick up. In the past 10 years since there are drying kilns for export areca, Tien Phuoc also has more stable output. Areca is easy to grow, less labor intensive. take care of, suitable for the mountainous land here”, Mr. Xuan shared.

Areca is often grown around home gardens, on swidden land, along roadsides… creating a poetic, beautiful scene just like the movie set (Photo: Ngo Linh).

In the family’s 1 hectare areca garden, Mr. Truong Quang Binh (Tien Ngoc commune) is busy taking care of the areca garden which is in the stage of young fruiting. Mr. Binh said that in the past, his family planted acacia trees with long growth time and low productivity. Realizing that the areca tree was popular with the market, giving high yield, his family switched to growing areca and bamboo.

“Bamboo areca trees produce long, large and heavy fruits, which traders like because when dried, the areca intestines have beautiful colors and less loss. On average, my family earns more than 100 million VND from selling fresh areca trees a year. “, Mr. Binh said.

Find the output from export dried areca

One of the places to buy fresh areca for processing is the Cooperative of dried areca in Tien Phuoc district, located in Tien Canh commune, Tien Phuoc district. Ms. Tran Thi Luan – Director of the cooperative said that each year, the unit exports hundreds of tons of dried areca to the Chinese and Indian markets.

The areca tree flowers in January, until June the calendar begins to harvest, only one crop a year (Photo: Ngo Linh).

Currently, the cooperative buys fresh areca from the people at the price of 50,000-52,000 VND/kg without the stem, if the stalk is still intact, it will buy it for 45,000 VND/kg.

“The cooperative invests in modern machinery to improve the quality and value of Tien Phuoc areca, expand exports to markets around the world. Not only dried, the areca future is also processed into export candy products. exported to foreign markets,” said Ms. Luan.

According to Mr. Phung Van Xuan, in the past 10 years, his family’s areca garden has collected more than 3 tons of fruit each year, bringing in an income of about 200 million VND (Photo: Ngo Linh).

Mr. Tang Ngoc Duc – Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Phuoc district – said that at present, people grow mainly in home gardens, hill gardens, widely distributed in 15 communes and towns; The most concentrated growing areas are 2 communes, Tien Lanh and Tien Ngoc, with many 1-2 ha areca gardens with annual income up to hundreds of millions of dong.

Many Tien Phuoc farmers now cut down acacia trees to expand areca plantations, due to the characteristics of this tree that is easy to grow, requires little care, and has a short basic construction period but a long business period (over 50 years). ). The common planting density ranges from 1,600 plants/ha to 2,500 plants/ha.

Currently, the export of areca leaves opens a good market for areca products, bringing stable income for farmers (Photo: Ngo Linh).

In terms of economic value, according to Mr. Tang Ngoc Duc, in addition to processed areca, which is exported to China and Indian markets, by-products such as areca nut, and areca nut, are used as raw materials. produce handicrafts and fine arts products to increase value and income for people. 

According to statistics of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tien Phuoc district, the area of ​​​​areca growing in the district is more than 1,000 hectares, of which the area for fruiting is more than 500 hectares.

The annual output reaches more than 2,600 tons of fresh areca nut, the price of fresh areca varies from 30,000-90,000 VND/kg.

The value of income from areca nut and by-products from areca in the whole district is from 100-200 billion VND/year.

In addition to the dried areca, by-products such as areca moth, areca nut, are used as raw materials for production, contributing to increased income for people (Photo: Ngo Linh).
Currently, areca trees are not only grown to make fences around the house, but also a valuable product to create livelihoods for people (Photo: Ngo Linh).

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