Recently, some farming households in Vinh Quang commune (Chiem Hoa district, Tuyen Quang province) have boldly converted by growing gac, initially bringing better economic efficiency, contributing to improving the quality of life.
Currently, gac products are the main raw material used in the processing of medicinal essential oils and the production of foods that are popular in the market.
Grasping that need, recently some farming households in Vinh Quang commune (Chiem Hoa, Tuyen Quang) have boldly converted to put gac trees into production and initially brought economic efficiency, contributing to improving the quality of life.
Pioneer in growing Gac fruit on Vinh Quang land
Mr. Doan Van Chung, born in 1973 in Quang Hai village, Vinh Quang commune (Chiem Hoa district), was the first person to grow gac trees in Vinh Quang commune.
Sharing his chance to grow gac, Mr. Chung said that through the media he learned about the highly effective gac growing model in Thai Binh province. He researched and chose this crop to develop the economy.
At first, he planted gac trees, but after a period of care, he noticed that the trees grew slowly and were not very effective.
He decided to change to find varieties with high yield and good quality. In 2011, he invested in building a system of columns and trellis to specialize in growing gac and started developing products processed from gac fruit.
Mr. Chung said: Growing gac is quite simple, does not require much care. After harvesting, by the end of the third lunar month, you have to start cleaning the garden, cutting off all the stems and branches of the tree, leaving only the base and then fertilizing to prepare for the new crop. When the base sprouts, prune it, leaving only one main sprout for climbing the trellis.
Fresh gac fruit is purchased by the cooperative and processed into products of high economic value.
From May to August of the lunar calendar, when the gac tree grows on the trellis, flowers and bears fruit, it is necessary to take care of it and fertilize it. When winter comes, the gac leaves gradually turn from green to yellow, withered and fall off, that is when the gac tree begins to ripen and is ready for harvest.
The cost of each hectare of gac in the first year is about more than 100 million VND, including investment in concrete piles, steel wire trellis, seeds, fertilizers, etc. The cost decreases in the following years. In particular, the growth period of gac trees is quite long, about 15 to 20 years. Thus, you only need to plant once to be able to harvest for at least 15 consecutive years.
Gac trees only yield one harvest a year, from the end of October of the previous year to the end of January of the following year, with an average yield of 20-25 tons of fruit/ha. Currently, the purchase price of ripe fruit is 21,000 VND/kg, with each hectare of gac yielding an average of over 450 million VND/year.
The model of growing gac fruit of Mr. Chung’s family has brought high efficiency, many people in the village and neighboring communes have come to learn and follow. Up to now, Vinh Quang commune has more than 30 hectares of growing gac fruit, in Chiem Hoa district there are more than 120 hectares of growing gac fruit concentrated in the communes: Kim Binh, Vinh Quang, Tri Phu, Tan Thinh…
Developing processing and finding stable output for gac products
Not only was he bold in changing crops, Mr. Chung also tried to find a stable outlet for his products. Initially, he built a manual drying kiln, but due to lack of experience, his gac products lost color and customers did not buy them, leading to failure. Not discouraged, he continued to learn and gain experience from those who went before him and succeeded.
Since 2015, in addition to his family's gac output, he has also purchased all fresh gac fruit products from neighboring people to process the gac membrane and dry it to resell to essential oil extraction facilities in the provinces of Hung Yen, Thai Nguyen, and Bac Giang.
To continue expanding production, in 2020, Mr. Chung established Chung Tin Agricultural Service and Trade Cooperative with 10 members specializing in growing, purchasing, consulting and supplying gac and agricultural products. The cooperative has invested in installing an electric gac drying system, creating jobs for over 20 seasonal workers.
During the November-December season, the Cooperative purchases on average several tons of Gac fruit per day from households in Vinh Quang Commune and other communes in the area. In 2023, the Cooperative purchased and processed more than 300 tons of fresh fruit. According to Mr. Chung, the Cooperative's dried Gac membrane and Gac oil products are highly appreciated by customers, but are currently not enough to meet orders.
The goal of the cooperative is to build product brands, expand and maintain stable raw material areas. The cooperative has signed contracts to link and consume gac products for households in need of growing gac in the province; households are trained in planting, care and pest control techniques; are given advance seeds and microbial fertilizers when households have a need and deducted from the products after harvest.
In 2024, the cooperative had a raw material area of 120 hectares, but due to the impact of storm No. 3, it currently has 60 hectares with an average yield of 25 tons/ha at a price of 21,000 VND/kg. Currently, the cooperative has 3 main products: gac essential oil, dried gac membrane and frozen gac core.
In addition, the Cooperative also signed a contract to purchase fresh gac fruit with food processing companies and enterprises, so the output is always stable. In 2024, the Cooperative has 1.5 hectares of gac growing area in Quang Hai village, Vinh Quang commune, which has been granted a growing area code, which is a premise to increase competitiveness and enhance the value of the Cooperative's products and is a condition for the Cooperative's agricultural products to be able to export to international markets.
In the coming time, the Cooperative will continue to develop raw material areas and improve the quality of local OCOP products, build brands to meet the requirements of domestic enterprises and target export markets.
Growing gac not only helps many households take advantage of mixed garden land, bringing income to people, helping many families escape poverty and become well-off. However, because the initial investment capital for growing gac is quite large (making trellises and concrete piles), an average of 120 million/ha, it causes difficulties for households who want to grow gac but do not have enough conditions. Currently, gac is only grown on a small scale, not many households produce on a large area, so the supply is low and does not meet the demand. Therefore, to develop the model towards commodity production, it is hoped that there will be a support policy mechanism to help people access credit capital so that gac trees bring high economic efficiency to the people.
Source: https://danviet.vn/xa-nay-o-tuyen-quang-dan-trong-gac-ra-qua-to-bu-da-do-au-ban-lam-duoc-lieu-thu-tien-nhieu-hon-2025031015523692.htm
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