Livelihood guidance helps mountainous people in Nghe An escape poverty

Joy from areca season

With nearly 11,000 trees in harvest, the areca garden of Mr. Hoang Trung Thong's family (residing in Na Cay village, Tien Phong commune, Nghe An ) is considered the most beautiful and largest in the commune. With the areca purchase price from 75,000-80,000 VND/kg, the areca garden is expected to bring a large source of income for Mr. Thong's family. "This year, the areca grows well, bears a lot of fruit, the fruit is big, the areca price is higher than previous years, so I am excited. At the beginning of the season, traders came to the garden to deposit but I did not accept, I have to wait until the main season to know the specific yield before I can sell," Mr. Thong shared.

This year's areca nuts are rated as having big, beautiful and fruitful fruits.

Not only Mr. Thong's family, many households in Na Cay village (Tien Phong commune) have also started to "do well" thanks to the green areca trees. Like Ms. Ha Thi Hoi's family, with 3,000 trees in harvest, it is expected to bring in an income of more than 300 million VND. "At the end of July, my family sold 2 tons of areca nuts and earned more than 160 million VND. If the price is stable like now, it will be great, everyone is excited," Ms. Hoi said happily.

Na Cay villagers said that the price of fresh areca nuts has never been as high as this year. The fact that traders come to the garden to buy and pay immediately makes people feel more secure in sticking with areca trees.

Areca nuts have been grown a lot in Tien Phong commune in recent years, bringing good income to local people.

Poverty-reducing crops in mountainous communes

Previously, areca nuts were grown by Tien Phong commune people in small scale around their home gardens to eat and sell on holidays and Tet. When areca nut prices increased, some households boldly borrowed money to invest in expanding the area to buy more seeds to plant, thereby having a large additional source of income.

Seeing that areca nut is easy to grow and brings good income, many people in Tien Phong commune also try to follow suit to develop the economy .

People are excited when areca nuts are purchased at high prices from 75-80 thousand VND/kg.

For the past 5 years, Tien Phong commune people have strongly developed areca trees for commercial purposes. Thanks to the suitability of soil conditions, areca trees are easy to grow, have few pests and diseases, low care costs, and can be exploited for a long time, areca trees quickly became the main crop for local households.

Ms. Vi Thi Duyen - Vice Chairman of Tien Phong Commune People's Committee said: Areca palm is considered suitable for local soil and climate conditions. Areca palm is also easy to grow, easy to care for, has few pests and diseases, does not require fertilizer costs, and is less affected by natural disasters. Areca palm can self-propagate, has a long exploitation time, and has stable economic efficiency if the price is maintained.

The Fatherland Front Committee of Tien Phong commune presented a livelihood model with more than 3,000 areca seedlings to local people to help them gradually escape poverty.

Recently, the Fatherland Front Committee of Tien Phong commune supported 3,000 areca seedlings for poor households, opening up a new livelihood direction, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction for people in the commune.

Reality has proven that areca nut is bringing outstanding economic efficiency, helping many mountainous households to become well-off. Areca nut tree, from being just a part of cultural life, has now become a "poverty escape tree" for the people here.

Areca trees are expected to bring about great change in the mountainous commune of Tien Phong.

Although it has brought good economic efficiency, however, the agricultural sector of Nghe An province recommends that people need to develop the areca model according to planning and depth. Besides expanding the area, people need to soon research deep processing, diversifying products from areca such as areca tea, essential oils, medicinal herbs... to create stable output. From there, the livelihood model from areca trees will be developed sustainably.