30 years of making a living with the profession of "engaging in, enforcing out"

Mr. Le Van An (Nghia Thuong commune, Tu Nghia district) has been making ladders and bamboo beds for over 30 years. For him, this seemingly forgotten profession is still the main source of income for his family.

According to Mr. An, the profession of making bamboo products is becoming more and more difficult. Materials are scarce, prices are rising, while the cost of products is low. Only those who truly love the profession will stick with it.

30 năm mưu sinh với nghề hô khắc nhập, khắc xuất - 1 — Mr. Le Van An and his wife have stuck with the business of making bamboo ladders and beds for 30 years (Photo: Quoc Trieu).

The 63-year-old man quickly trimmed the bamboo, split the bamboo strips, then worked hard sawing and chiseling to make bamboo beds. Each bamboo bed requires 1.5 old bamboo trees at a cost of about 100,000 VND. Each session, Mr. An can complete a product. The selling price of each bamboo bed is only 140,000-150,000 VND.

"I earn 40,000-50,000 VND per day making a product. It sounds cheap, but because the price is cheap, many people buy my bamboo beds and bamboo ladders. At this age, I'm happy to be able to do the job I love and have people using my products," said Mr. An.

Those who stick with the profession like Mr. An are facing more and more difficulties. Not only is the consumer market shrinking, but the source of materials is also becoming scarcer.

According to Mr. An, it took him all day to travel around Tu Nghia, Binh Son, Mo Duc districts... to be able to buy bamboo.

"No one sells bamboo planted along the river because it holds the soil and prevents erosion. As for bamboo in the garden, almost no one keeps it anymore. Many houses, just last year had a garden full of bamboo, but the following year they cut it down to make concrete fences," Mr. An shared.

30 năm mưu sinh với nghề hô khắc nhập, khắc xuất - 2 — Bamboo basket weaving brings in an income of 150,000-200,000 VND per day (Photo: Quoc Trieu).

Mr. Nguyen Qua (59 years old, Tinh An Tay commune, Quang Ngai city) has been involved in the bamboo basket weaving profession for decades.

According to Mr. Qua, Quang Ngai bamboo has 3 main types: thorny bamboo, rice bamboo and ivory bamboo. Basket weavers like Mr. Qua only choose rice bamboo. This type of bamboo is flexible enough to weave beautiful, durable bamboo baskets.

With his deft hands whittling bamboo for the workers at the workshop to weave baskets, Mr. Nguyen Qua recalls that in the past, there were more than 100 households in this hamlet making bamboo baskets. Now, bamboo is scarce and the market for the products has narrowed, so the whole hamlet only has about 10 households keeping up the craft.

"To survive in this profession, you have to work hard to find bamboo to reduce the cost of the product. This profession only takes labor as profit. If we sell at a high price, no one will buy and we will switch to using foam boxes and metal baskets," Mr. Qua shared.

30 năm mưu sinh với nghề hô khắc nhập, khắc xuất - 3 — A worker in Tu Nghia district pushes a bamboo ladder to the center of Quang Ngai city to sell (Photo: Quoc Trieu).

Like many other traditional craft villages, the bamboo weaving craft village also faces many difficulties due to the times.

In the 2000s, when cheap plastic items such as basins, baskets and tarpaulins began to appear on the market, similar bamboo products fell into a slump.

Unable to bear seeing the bamboo weaving profession "die young", people switched to weaving bamboo baskets according to orders from traders.

For a time, bamboo baskets for carrying areca nuts were popular, but soon faded away. Later, when traders started using refrigerated trucks to transport areca nuts, this product was no longer dominant.

Despite the difficulties, many people are determined to stick to their traditional jobs. They push bamboo ladders and bamboo beds from the village to the streets to sell. They go to flower shops to sell bamboo baskets of flowers... Each person carries in their hearts the hope that bamboo products will become popular again.

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