Memories of the "hidden medicine" plant
Ngoc Linh Mountain is famous for the legend of the “hidden medicine” tree, a precious and secret medicine of the Xe Dang people for many generations, which was later identified as Ngoc Linh ginseng. The sacred Ngoc Linh Mountain is also the mountain located between the border of Dak Glei district of Kon Tum and Tra My district of Quang Nam.
On the Tra My side, there are 6 communes planned to grow Ngoc Linh ginseng, on the Dak Glei side, there are 7 communes assigned the mission of maintaining precious genetic resources, in which the Dak Glei side has a lot of rain and high humidity, suitable for the growth of ginseng.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Tam, a retired teacher in village 7, Kon Dao commune, Dak To district, still remembers the first days he set foot here nearly 50 years ago. That was in 1977, when the country had just been liberated, the young man from Can Loc, Ha Tinh, after graduating from the Faculty of Literature, Hue University of Education, was assigned to teach in Kon Tum.
His entire teaching career was devoted to the Central Highlands. Teacher Tam worked as a teacher for 4 years before being appointed principal, and worked there until his retirement. Living with the people, bringing knowledge to them with all his heart, he loved them and they also had special feelings for him, expressed simply, not expressed in flowery words.
During the days when the Fulro were still rampant, many cadres and people were brutally attacked by them, but the Fulro still spared teachers, because "teachers teach their children". He said, when the Xe Dang people understood and loved them, they could sacrifice for him.
Having been attached to this land for nearly 50 years, Mr. Tam understands the land and the people here. Therefore, his memories of ginseng are a long story. He said that ginseng at that time was only a little more expensive than sweet potatoes, and people who went up to the mountains to find it still kept it in their hands to give to the teacher.
Mr. Tam himself has climbed Ngoc Linh mountain many times from Dak Sao commune of Tu Mo Rong district now, not from Ngoc Linh commune, which takes a whole day to get there. His trips were sometimes to excavate precious metals from a French plane that crashed on Ngoc Linh peak, sometimes to check forest products, and he found ginseng roots that weighed up to 2 ounces. People who went to the forest to collect ginseng also brought it back to sell.
Anyone who lives around Ngoc Linh Mountain has memories of ginseng. Stories of people who became rich selling wild ginseng, stories of sleeping ginseng and waking ginseng, ginseng that can only be seen by those who see it. There are ginseng roots that sleep for many years when buried deep in the soil and rocks, until one day when it rains and winds, they come close to the surface and sprout and continue to grow. Therefore, with cultivated ginseng, the age can be calculated by the eyes, but with wild ginseng, calculating by the eyes is not accurate.
Wild ginseng has a higher value as well. Ginseng only blooms in the rainy season, when it sprouts leaves. This is not an easy season to go up the mountain, but it is the ginseng hunting season for foresters.
Although wild ginseng is not as abundant as in previous years, people can still find it. Although rare, its value is many times higher. 1kg of grade 1 wild ginseng including 5 roots costs up to nearly 300 million VND. The smaller and younger the roots, the lower the price.
However, not everyone is destined to have this mysterious plant. Mr. A Dom, in Dak Xi Na village, Xop commune, Dak Glei district, is considered to have the most wild ginseng in the commune. This is the fate of each person, not something that can be achieved by trying. Wealth here is measured by ginseng along with admiration.
Ginseng garden at an altitude of 1,650m
Arriving in Kon Tum, I was introduced to a man who was trying to grow a ginseng garden using semi-natural methods. So I decided to go up the mountain to see the ginseng garden of Nguyen Duc Quoc Huy, born in 1984, currently living in Tan Canh, Dak To.
Huy's ginseng growing career started earlier, when he had a friend working in a forestry company, growing and harvesting ginseng. This friend advised Huy to invest in this precious plant.
At that time, Huy was still a bridge engineer working in Dong Nai. He invested in some ginseng on the mountain, in Dak Xi Na village. The event that marked the milestone for Huy to focus on ginseng was the Covid-19 pandemic. Being in Dong Nai, isolated, far from the ginseng garden, there was no way to return, until the order to ease the isolation, he returned to Kon Tum, immediately going up the mountain.
That was also the time when he decided to devote himself to ginseng. Huy quit his job to grow ginseng, invested money, and called for more capital from some close friends to buy seedlings to develop the garden.
Using semi-natural methods, respecting the growth and living environment of ginseng on Ngoc Linh mountain, Huy's garden is allowed to grow ginseng in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, at an altitude of 1,650 m, in Xop commune, Dak Glei district.
Therefore, transporting farming tools and materials for growing ginseng is extremely difficult. The slope is steep and climbing is difficult, so he had to hire young Xe Dang men to carry motorbikes with chains on the wheels up the mountain, carrying rolls of B40 steel wire to make a fence, both to ensure security and to prevent rats from destroying the ginseng.
A friend was convinced by the beautiful idea and a good future later came to work with him, but after only one week of “experience” he gave up. Alone, Huy continued. Following Mr. Tam’s method, he gradually approached and made the Xe Dang people at the foot of the mountain understand and support him in implementing the project. On the one hand, he asked for local permission and did the necessary administrative procedures.
When Huy started, Ngoc Linh ginseng was already a famous and valuable commodity, however, there were many different genetic sources, varieties and cultivation methods mixed together, affecting the market as well as the quality assurance. Huy chose to follow the sustainable path. At that time, in Mang Ri commune, Tu Ma Rong district, ginseng cultivation was successfully developed by Xe Dang cadres and people.
Learning from this model, he built a ginseng garden model in the direction of connecting with the community, calling on local people to participate in growing and patiently waiting for the harvest day. A ginseng plant takes a long time from planting to harvesting, after 7 years it has enough micronutrients to be exported to the market.
To shorten the time, instead of growing from seeds, Huy spent money to buy plants to plant, although it was expensive but it would be faster. Although these plants have not been harvested for tubers, they can collect seeds to sell, bringing in a small source of income to maintain the ginseng garden. In the 30-hectare area are Nguyen Duc Quoc Huy's ginseng beds, 3-year-old beds, 5-year-old beds, next to the wild ginseng plants that he bought and continued to send to the forest to prolong the growing period.
Extending the growth of precious ginseng varieties
We saw pickup trucks of local people running on the road in Tu Mo Rong, some Xe Dang households here have become rich by participating in the ginseng growing model. Mang Ri commune of Tu Mo Rong is considered the capital of Ngoc Linh ginseng today with pioneering in growing ginseng and selling ginseng to the market.
The Ngoc Linh ginseng conservation and development project with community participation has been implemented since 2005, invested by the 5 million hectare forest management board - Dak To district's Agricultural, Forestry and Service Development Investment Company, implemented in 7 communes of Tu Mo Rong and Dak Glei districts with the goal of conserving Ngoc Linh ginseng. In addition, models like Nguyen Duc Quoc Huy's also contribute to the socialization of the protection of this precious genetic resource.
The ginseng plantations hidden under the canopy of old forests, in natural conditions, are a right direction in the conservation and development of wild ginseng. Mr. A Dieu, who used to be the Vice Chairman of Xop commune, has now joined Huy to take care of the ginseng garden every day.
Young Xe Dang people in Dak Xi Na are also familiar with having a ginseng farm, where they can come to work and have benefits after a period of dedication. The story of Ngoc Linh ginseng is being continued by young people. Nguyen Duc Quoc Huy's father was originally from Quang Ngai and went to Kon Tum to work as an accountant in a forestry unit, his mother from the countryside of Ha Tinh also went to Kon Tum to work as a teacher like Mr. Tam.
The students of Mr. Tam in the past, including his eldest son Nguyen Trong Nam, are the owners of Kon Tum today. Some participate in developing green agriculture, clean agriculture, bringing local agricultural products to the national market like Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, some follow the direction of developing medicinal herbs like Cu Thi Hong Nhung, owner of the An Thanh medicinal herb brand; some return to devote their passion to ginseng like Nguyen Duc Quoc Huy...
They are the ones who continue the legend of Ngoc Linh ginseng.
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/kham-pha-mien-dat-cua-sam-10284564.html
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