The brave man brought macadamia trees to the barren land of Quan Hoa

Recklessly cutting down the "poverty escape tree"

In 2015, from an area of ​​land used for ineffective bamboo cultivation, Mr. Ha Van Thinh (62 years old) in Chong village, Thien Phu commune, Quan Hoa mountainous district (Thanh Hoa province) renovated and experimented with growing macadamia trees. 10 years ago, everyone thought he was reckless when he dared to cut down bamboo trees - considered a "poverty escape tree" in mountainous districts to experiment with growing a tree that had never been mentioned before.

More than a decade ago, Quan Hoa district was still very poor and backward. A part of the population still relied on support policies from the state. Yet, a Thai ethnic man dared to overcome prejudice and “go to school” to learn about macadamia growing models in all provinces.

Mr. Ha Van Thinh boldly cut down bamboo trees when economic efficiency decreased. Photo: Thanh Tam.

For Mr. Thinh, growing macadamia trees was a chance when he accidentally read a newspaper article about the highly effective macadamia growing model of Mr. Pham Minh To in Thach Thanh district (Thanh Hoa). After many sleepless nights, realizing that his family's 1 hectare of bamboo land had low economic efficiency, while his wife's health was getting worse and exploiting bamboo was very difficult, he decided to pack up and follow the address listed in the newspaper article to find Mr. To's macadamia growing model to learn from his experience.

Mr. Thinh recalls that when he came to Mr. Pham Minh To's model, he did not know what a macadamia tree looked like, he only had the intention of changing crops, simply to have money to help his wife and children suffer less.

Mr. To openly shared his experience and agreed to let Mr. Thinh stay for half a month to learn the process and techniques of planting and caring for macadamia. After learning a little knowledge, Mr. Thinh returned home. The very next day, he mobilized his wife and children to go up the hill to cut bamboo and dig up the roots. The most difficult part was the land improvement because the hill was steep and machinery was limited, so the whole family of four took turns plowing and hoeing. When the land was improved and loose, he borrowed another 20 million VND from the bank and went all the way to Ba Vi (Hanoi) to buy macadamia seedlings.

Mr. Thinh's family's 2 hectares of macadamia trees are now ready for harvest. Photo: Thanh Tam

Convert degraded bamboo forests to macadamia plantations

 

Initially, Mr. Thinh planted 200 macadamia trees on an experimental area of ​​1 hectare. After 4 years, the trees flowered and bore fruit. The day he and his wife got to taste the macadamia nuts they had grown themselves, they cried tears of joy.

Realizing that the local soil is very suitable for macadamia trees to grow and develop, in 2019, Mr. Thinh continued to expand the planting area by 1 hectare. After 10 years, Mr. Thinh's macadamia garden has now been harvested. In 2024, his family harvested 3 tons of fresh fruit, and after deducting expenses, earned a profit of more than 100 million VND.

Seeing the high efficiency of Mr. Thinh’s macadamia growing model, households in the commune as well as neighboring communes came to him to share their experiences. Not to mention, many households in neighboring districts such as Quan Son and Ba Thuoc also came to visit and learn from his experiences, and to buy seedlings. Not keeping them for himself, Mr. Thinh enthusiastically led each person up the hill, showing each step of planting and caring. He became the intermediary to buy seedlings for the people.

It is known that up to now, the area of ​​macadamia trees in Thien Phu commune has increased to more than 12 hectares/42 households. The desire of macadamia growers is to establish Thien Phu Commune Agriculture - Forestry Cooperative to help people consume, introduce, promote local products, create jobs, and increase income.

After 4 years of planting, 100 macadamia trees of Mr. Ha Van Mung's family have also flowered and fruited. Photo: Thanh Tam.

Mr. Thinh said, growing macadamia is not difficult, the most important thing is to find the right variety, regularly prune and water the trees, and every year dig up the roots to add manure.

Mr. Ha Van Mung, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Thien Phu commune, also asked Mr. Thinh to share his experience and try planting 100 macadamia trees in 2021. This year, his family's macadamia garden has also bloomed and is starting to bear fruit.

Mr. Mung shared that in 2015, when he saw Mr. Thinh cut down bamboo and then plant a tree that had never been heard of in the area, everyone thought he was crazy. Mr. Thinh did not explain much, just diligently took care of it every day. 4 years later, the macadamia tree bore fruit and sold for a high price, and in the first crop he earned 30 million VND in profit. At that time, Mr. Mung was the first person to meet him and ask him to share his experience.

For Mr. Thinh, learning must be done by doing, by hand. So every Saturday and Sunday off from work, Mr. Mung and Mr. Thinh go up the hill together. One old and one young work and talk enthusiastically about the tree that is considered the "queen of nuts".

Mr. Thinh cherishes the sweat that his wife and he shed on the barren land. Photo: Thanh Tam

When the macadamia harvest was large, Mr. Thinh bought a shelling machine, seed separator, and seed drying cabinet to directly process dried macadamia nuts to serve the market.

“To improve production efficiency and prepare for the 2025 harvest season, my family has purchased additional drying cabinets and shelling machines. If dried and shelled, macadamia nuts are worth 10 times more than selling fresh fruit,” said Mr. Thinh.

Mr. Le Van Nam, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quan Hoa district, said: From the successful macadamia growing model of Mr. Ha Van Thinh, the authorities of the communes are reviewing the land fund for planning the development of production forests, focusing on building a macadamia growing model; converting the crop structure from degraded and poor quality bamboo forests to macadamia growing. By 2030, the whole district is expected to have 40 hectares of macadamia growing.

Source: https://nongnghiep.vn/nguoi-bao-gan-dua-cay-mac-ca-len-vung-dat-can-quan-hoa-d746856.html