Go to the mountains! (Part 1)

I was fortunate to follow him to many rural areas from North to South. Especially, when going to the mountainous areas, he often had sharp comments and suggestions. Even at a time when the mountainous areas were still full of difficulties, he still affirmed that if determined, the mountainous areas would certainly rise up. He was concerned about that issue and often discussed it with everyone.

Whenever he visited a country with good plants or animals, he immediately thought of bringing them to Vietnam. He was especially interested in our mountainous regions. Many forest tree varieties and some livestock species such as Tam Hoang chicken, Luong Phuong chicken, French pigeon, ostrich, Luc Truc and Dien Truc bamboo shoots, hybrid rice, macadamia trees, etc. were brought back from abroad by him. He assigned them to localities for testing. He closely monitored and always encouraged everyone to join hands to find new promising species, especially those for mountainous regions.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Tan in the duck farm he established. Photo: VNE

One of the establishments where he often went to direct and monitor the new subjects he brought back from abroad was the Northeast Forestry Seed Company (located in Lang Son). He often called me to follow him…

At that time, the mountainous region was still very poor! Passing by Bac Giang, he told me: “When our lychees are exported to the world, the people here will be very rich…”. He told me about the bamboo shoots from Taiwan that he had brought here. At that time, it was only being grown experimentally but he still had hope: “The Taiwanese people, they got rich thanks to these bamboo shoots, so why can’t our people in the mountainous region do the same!….”

He was the one who organized the introduction of macadamia seeds into Vietnam. He went up and discussed with his colleagues at the company. Then a “campaign” to introduce macadamia seeds from China into Vietnam was carried out. Everything went smoothly!

Once the trees were available, Australian experts came over and gave instructions on how to graft macadamia trees. From then on, macadamia varieties were planted everywhere. Unfortunately, at that time, macadamia trees were too new to be “admired”.

The day Mr. Tan and I attended a meeting with Tuy Duc district (Dak Nong) to discuss the organization of macadamia planting, the provincial agricultural extension director said: “…If we are not careful, the macadamia tree will become a “stranded” tree!…”

Mr. Tan was very upset! I had to tell him: “Forget it, we will definitely succeed…”

Up to now, macadamia has covered the Central Highlands, the Northwest and even the North. Many families growing macadamia have earned hundreds of millions for each hectare…

Every year around July to September of the lunar calendar, people in Lang Son begin a black canarium harvest. This dark purple fruit with a rich, fatty, rich flavor is a specialty that brings high economic value to the people of Lang Son. Photo: Moc Tra

Lang Son is also the place where we are promoting the development of grafted canarium trees. The Northeast Forestry Seed Company has taken care of the breeding. The grafted trees should bear fruit in just 3 years. The Chinese come to buy all the canarium trees. They bring them back and process them into many attractive products.

Recently, I went to Phu Binh (Thai Nguyen) and all the way to Huong Son (Ha Tinh) and found out that the price of black canarium fruit is from 120,000 - 140,000 VND/kg. It's amazing! I thought that if each family in the mountainous area only needed to plant a few dozen grafted canarium trees, it would be... enough to buy a car!

The dry hilly areas in the mountains can also grow another type of tree, the chestnut. Our chestnuts are bigger than those of China. I visited a family in Lang Son. The owner said that she has planted 400 chestnut trees per hectare for 5 years. Each tree produces at least 10 kg of nuts. The current price of nuts is 100,000 VND/kg.

Thus, one hectare can yield 400 million! If there is a processing enterprise involved, the price will be even higher. Currently, in China, people have made more than 10 different types of cakes from chestnuts. The cakes are very delicious and also very expensive!

I went to Chi Dao commune, Lac Son district, Hoa Binh province. This is where people have been planting doi trees since the ancient times. There are some doi trees that are hundreds of years old!

Currently, the Doi tree is widely planted throughout the commune. The tree is propagated by grafting, so it only takes 3 years to bear fruit. Chinese people come to the commune to buy Doi seeds, the price of fresh seeds is about 700,000-800,000 VND/kg, and dry seeds are from 1-1.5 million VND/kg. The Muong ethnic people here when migrating to Dak Lak also brought Doi trees to plant. Currently, around the Ea Kao Lake area (Buon Ma Thuot), people have planted tens of thousands of Doi trees... It is said that in the mountainous areas of Quang Nam, Doi trees have also begun to be planted.

Just found out, if boldly converted, the mountainous region can even surpass the lowland region!

There is a great lesson that other places are looking to learn, which is the decision of the Son La Provincial Party Committee to convert a large part of the province’s corn and cassava growing area to fruit tree growing. Tens of thousands of hectares of mango, longan, passion fruit, etc. were formed one after another. The income of people in these areas is outstanding, in some places it has increased by up to ten times!

Now, the Central Government has just decided to build a new road from Hoa Binh to Moc Chau. People in this area are rich from raising dairy cows and growing tea, but now they are even richer thanks to tourism…

In the Central Highlands provinces, coffee prices are rising, in some places the price has doubled. If the quality is maintained and food safety is ensured, people can boost production. Not to mention durian. In Dak Nong, Dak Lak and even Khanh Hoa, there are many durian gardens earning billions of dong! The potential in these highlands is still enormous!

Agricultural expert Nguyen Lan Hung.

If you go to the Northwest, Viet Bac, all the way to the Central Highlands, you will see the full potential of our medicinal plants. Countless species of precious plants have not been properly exploited; the time will come when this giant medicinal storehouse will be “awakened”. The whole world will come to Vietnam to buy medicine!

When I went from Sa Pa to Lai Chau, I kept wishing that some business would come here to build a flower area like Da Lat. The climate here is no different from Da Lat!

If we are determined, we will definitely create a new flower region. In the near future, the government will build an airport here. Flowers from these mountainous regions will travel all over the world!

Which businesses will come here to help the people turn this remote mountainous area into a fertile temperate flower and fruit growing area?…

The mountains are not far away anymore, let's go to the mountains and forests!