On cinnamon harvest days, just arriving at the beginning of Trung Son commune, we could smell the fragrant scent of cinnamon all over the roads. The economy is good, so the road leading to the “capital” of cinnamon trees in Yen Lap district is also wide, beautiful, flat, creating convenience for traveling and transporting goods. We stopped at the spacious, one of the largest houses in the commune with full amenities of Mr. Dinh Van Lua in Nai hamlet, Trung Son commune.

Talking to Mr. Lua, we learned that he was one of the first people to plant cinnamon trees in Yen Lap district. In 1992, Mr. Lua realized that cinnamon trees had high economic value, the leaves and branches were used to produce cinnamon essential oil; the bark was widely used in daily life, medicine, cuisine, or processed for export; cinnamon wood was used in construction, making furniture such as tables, chairs, beds, cabinets, producing handicrafts... Therefore, he went to the cinnamon growing area of ​​Van Yen district, Yen Bai province to learn how to plant and brought cinnamon trees to plant first in the district.

Over time, from a few experimental plants, his family now owns more than 10 hectares of hills covered with cinnamon trees. Mr. Lua shared: "I have been attached to cinnamon trees since the early days. Cinnamon trees have brought prosperity and helped my descendants to protect the forest until now. Previously, acacia was a tree that brought economic efficiency and had been associated with the people for a long time. However, in recent years, seeing that growing cinnamon brings higher value, people have switched to this tree variety."

People in Thuong Long commune, Yen Lap district harvest cinnamon.    

Trung Son Commune is one of the large cinnamon growing areas of Yen Lap District and Phu Tho Province with an area of ​​nearly 1,000 hectares. People have experience in planting, caring for, harvesting and processing cinnamon. Therefore, in the 2020-2025 term, the Trung Son Commune Party Committee identified cinnamon as a key crop, so it continued to mobilize people to plant, care for and apply science and technology to cinnamon growing to produce the best products. Thanks to cinnamon cultivation, the average income per capita of the commune is estimated at 19 million VND/person/year, the poverty rate has decreased to 17.9%.

Talking to us, Mr. Dinh Van Doa, Chairman of Trung Son Commune People's Committee said: "Previously, people in the commune mainly grew paper trees, but the economic efficiency was not high, so many households switched to growing cinnamon. Cinnamon is suitable for slopes, has the advantage of pruning, long-term exploitation, and is environmentally friendly. In 2023, due to many reasons, the price of cinnamon is not as good as in previous years. However, this is still a crop that brings high income to people."

More than 10 years ago, like many ethnic minorities in difficult mountainous areas, Ms. Trieu Thi Van's family in Thuong Long commune, Yen Lap district only knew how to live off the forest, relying on rice and corn grown on the hills, shifting cultivation, slash-and-burn farming, so poverty and hunger were constant... But thanks to cultivating seeds, growing cinnamon and processing cinnamon products, her family's economy has changed a lot. Ms. Van earns a profit of 600-700 million VND/year, creating stable jobs for dozens of people with an income of about 7.5 million VND/month.

Ms. Van shared: “My family grows 12 hectares, of which 8 hectares have been harvested. In addition, I also grow and sell cinnamon seedlings, on average selling about 800,000 trees a year at a price ranging from 1,000-1,200 VND/tree; purchasing and processing cinnamon products such as branches, bark, and leaves. Cinnamon trees have much higher economic efficiency than other crops, so people have learned from each other's experiences, previous growers support seedlings and techniques for later growers to expand the planting area.”

Mr. Nguyen Kim Thanh, Chairman of Thuong Long Commune People's Committee said: "Determining cinnamon as a key crop, in recent years, the Party Committee and the commune government have actively encouraged local households to expand their acreage. Every year, the Commune People's Committee has coordinated with specialized departments and offices of the district to organize training courses for people on cinnamon planting and care techniques. The Commune People's Committee has also coordinated with companies and enterprises that produce, process, and purchase cinnamon products to sign product consumption contracts with people so that people can feel secure in their production."

Yen Lap district currently has about 1,725 ​​hectares of cinnamon, mainly concentrated in the communes of Trung Son, Thuong Long, Nga Hoang... The district strives to increase this to 2,500 hectares by 2025. Thanks to cinnamon, the locality has created jobs for more than 7,500 people, bringing in an annual economic value of more than 100 billion VND. Yen Lap district has issued a policy to support capital and land to develop cinnamon into an export crop in the immediate and long-term years. In particular, the State supports partial or full interest-free loans when people buy seedlings and seeds.

Along with support for seedlings, Yen Lap district has promoted the application of science and technology in planting, caring for, and exploiting cinnamon products, encouraging people to invest in intensive cultivation to expand the cinnamon growing area, focusing on improving the quality of seedling sources. In the coming time, the district will encourage establishments to cooperate with businesses to process cinnamon essential oil, cinnamon bark, cinnamon wood, and cinnamon handicraft products, creating stable output so that people can confidently stick with cinnamon trees; thereby ensuring economic development for local ethnic minorities.

Article and photos: HUYEN TRANG