Forest picking Vernicia Montana season
QUANG TRI – In August-September, when the forest trees fell on the fields, the people of Huong Hoa picked
With a 2,000-ha wide chestnut forest, at the end of the year, people in Quang Luu pull together to pick up “forest treasures”. From the beginning of the chestnut season until now, local people have “picked up” more than 200 tons of chestnuts, earning about 5 billion VND.(200,000 USD)
“Luc forest” comes at the end of the year
Quang Luu commune, Quang Trach district, Quang Binh province has a chestnut forest over 2,000 hectares wide, which has been around for a long time. In the past, during the chestnut season, people would go to the forest to collect seeds to dry and store them to eat instead of rice when they were hungry due to crop failure or floods.
In the 80-90s of the last century, due to lack of productive land, people in Quang Luu commune cut down chestnut forests, sold timber, and took land for production. Quang Luu chestnut forest is in danger of being wiped out.
However, with the determination to regenerate the chestnut forest, the Quang Luu commune government decided to ban the forest gate, not allowing people to cut down the forest for cultivation. This commune set up a forest protection group to propagate to people to understand the long-term benefits that forests bring. Thanks to that, the chestnut forest gradually revived and Quang Luu became the locality with the largest chestnut forest area in Quang Binh province.
Since then, products from the chestnut forest such as chestnuts, and honey… have brought great income for local people. Every October and November, people in Quang Luu commune and some surrounding areas go out to collect “forest fortunes”. Currently in the middle of the ripe chestnut season, every day about 500 people go to collect chestnuts.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien, a resident of Hai Luu village, Quang Luu commune, every day she goes to the forest, she can pick up about 20kg of chestnuts, with the selling price of 20,000-30,000 VND/kg, each day she has an income of 400,000-600,000 VND. . (1$=25,000 VND)
“This year, the chestnuts are in good season, and the seeds are thick, so on average, I also pick up about 20kg of nuts every day. Picking chestnuts is work that requires perseverance. Picking chestnuts is not too tiring, chestnuts are very easy to sell and have income immediately, so it attracts a lot of people to the forest every day,” Lien shared.
The whole commune earns 5 billion in a few months
According to local people, the chestnut tree blooms with pure white flowers and bears fruit for 9 months, until the beginning of October of the solar calendar, the chestnuts begin to ripen and in about 2 months, they all fall off. Thanks to chestnuts, for many years, many people in Quang Luu commune have had a good income in the last months of the year and hope to have a warmer Tet.
Ms. Tran Thi Ly (38 years old, living in Quang Luu commune) has been collecting chestnuts for nearly 20 years. According to Mrs. Ly, to collect chestnuts, she has to travel a long distance deep into the forest, so she needs to bring rice for lunch. “The ability to pick up and chop equipment”, each season also brings Mrs. Ly an income of about 30 million dong.
“The season of chestnuts only falls for a few months, so I have to take advantage of it, work hard to collect it, I will have a good income, this money is better than rice and livestock for a whole year. Chestnuts not only help us cover our living expenses. but also to save the children’s education,” said Ms. Ly.
Chestnuts are a very popular item, especially near Tet. Therefore, the chestnuts people pick up are all purchased and sold by the agents.
Mr. Tran Van Thang, an agent collecting chestnuts, said that on average, he buys about 1.5 tons of chestnuts from relatives every day. In Quang Luu commune, there are 3 collection agents like Mr. Thang’s, so people who pick chestnuts from the forest take them to these places to import and collect “fresh money”, so everyone is excited.
Talking to Dan Tri, Mr. Pham Van Huynh, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Quang Luu Commune, said that according to incomplete statistics, from the beginning of the chestnut season until now, people in Quang Luu commune have collected more than 200 tons of chestnuts and collected them. about 5 billion.
With the propaganda of the local government and the economic benefits that the chestnut forest brings, the people of Quang Luu now have a clear awareness and always have a sense of protecting the chestnut forest. Not only bringing billions of VND, chestnut forests also contribute to combating climate change and protecting the environment.
