Our first destination in the shades of Vietnam is Lao Cai. When it comes to Lao Cai, we often think about the roof of Indochina with the top of Mount Fansipan, or a famous tourist destination like Sapa. However, with Shades of Vietnam, you will discover Lao Cai in a different way and have a whole new perspective. Let’s explore with Vihaba!
How is Lao Cai?
Firstly, you must know some information about this province. Lao Cai is a highland province in the Northwest region of Vietnam, with a natural area of 6,383.89 km2. Lao Cai has a natural area of 638,389 ha with high fertility, very fertile, diverse including ten soil groups with 30 main types of soil, suitable for many different crops. The typical climate is two seasons: the rainy season starts from April to October, and the dry season starts from October to March next year.
Lao Cai has a lot of land for afforestation and crops. With a highland climate suitable for cultivation, Lao Cai is one of the provinces with a high output of agricultural products across the country. Many types of plants grew in here such as rice, medicinal plants, fruit trees,…
Because of its large area and tropical monsoon climate, Lao Cai has a great strength in agriculture. In particular, Lao Cai is a famous cinnamon growing area in Vietnam. Over 70% of the province’s planted forest area is cinnamon, a key export industrial tree of the locality. Cinnamon products are favored and appreciated by customers all over the world. So, when was cinnamon brought to Lao Cai?
How did cinnamon grow?
Cinnamon trees have been present in Lao Cai from the late 70s of the last century. According to local cinnamon growers, Mrs. Trieu Mui Pham (Triệu Mùi Pham), a Dao ethnic minority woman in Nam Det planted cinnamon tree in here. Its origin was from Yen Bai. At that time, people planted cinnamon trees scatteredly in communes and towns in the province. After a while, seeing that the cinnamon tree is suitable for the soil, over the years, the local government and people here have expanded the area.
In the beginning, cinnamon was mainly grown to replace some inefficient crops. By 2013, when an enterprise invested in a cinnamon oil processing factory in the area, the cinnamon growing area rapidly increased, thousands of hectares each year. In the period of 2015 – 2020, the province set a target of 20,000ha of cinnamon. However, by the end of 2017, the cinnamon growing area in the whole province reached 25,211 hectares.
How did people develop cinnamon?
From the beginning of 2019, the value obtained from cinnamon including bark, leaves, seeds, and cinnamon wood is nearly at 294 billion VND, an increase of 74 billion VND compared to 2018. At the end of 2019, the total revenue of a region in Lao Cai alone reached over 45 billion VND. Cinnamon products contribute to many households getting out of poverty.
42,000ha is the cinnamon area of the whole Lao Cai province by 2020. Nowadays, Lao Cai currently has 45,000 hectares of cinnamon with 100 communes, wards and towns growing cinnamon. Recently, people recognized 3,503 hectares as organic cinnamon areas. There are 11 factories for processing and extracting cinnamon essential oil, designed to capacity from 4,000 to 36,000 tons of raw materials/year. Overall, the annual revenue from cinnamon exports is about 90 billion VND.
With this great economic potential, cinnamon has become an important crop, helping to improve the lives of Lao Cai people.
How has cinnamon helped Lao Cai change?
Thanks to many advantages to growing cinnamon as well as receiving support and investment from the government, growing cinnamon has helped people here get out of poverty. A lot of people have jobs and full and prosperous lives.
For the people here, cinnamon is a high-value crop that helps improve their lives. The price of cinnamon bark is only 22,000-23,000 VND/kg. Moreover, the price of organic cinnamon is from 31,000-32,000 VND/kg. Compared with previous agricultural crops, cinnamon is the best-priced tree.
In addition, the consumption of products from cinnamon is very favorable. Growers can harvest and sell cinnamon bark and leaves, even small cinnamon stalks can be bought at a stable price. According to experts’ calculations, the estimated total economic value of an area of 01 hectares of cinnamon (15 years) is 580 million VND from collecting branches, leaves, bark, and trunks of wood. The average profit of people growing cinnamon is 38.7 million VND/ha/year, more than two times higher than other trees.
With large output, Lao Cai cinnamon not only meets the consumption demand of the domestic market but also is favored by foreign export markets. This products are also constantly improved their quality to reach demanding markets.
How is the quality of cinnamon in Lao Cai?
In recent years, under the encouragement and guidance from the management agency, cinnamon growers in Lao Cai are gradually switching to organic cinnamon growing. Organically, cinnamon will have a natural aroma, no chemical smell, and a characteristic sweet and spicy flavor. With the organic way of growing cinnamon, the cinnamon essential oil will be of higher quality, meeting many standards of the international export market. At the same time, it helps trees to grow stronger and helps protect people’s health.
Cinnamon products of in here province are quite diverse such as cinnamon powder, split cinnamon, broken cinnamon, crushed cinnamon, pressed cinnamon…
How far has the Lao Cai cinnamon reached?
Up to now, the export market of cinnamon products in Lao Cai province is very stable. Market of Lao Cai cinnamon are 9 countries, including Singapore, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Qatar, Lebanon, Israel, and Turkey. For essential oils, companies have exported to China, Sri Lanka, Europe, and America. In addition, Lao Cai’s cinnamon essential oil partly serves the domestic market demand.
To promote the potential and strengths of cinnamon, Lao Cai has assessed the current situation and orientation for cinnamon production and business development in the province. The goal is to form a concentrated cinnamon growing area with a scale of 52,000 hectares by 2030. The province strives to have at least 20% of cinnamon areas certified by FSC and organic certificates by 2025, reaching 35% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. In addition, Lao Cai also focuses on developing a national branded organic cinnamon product chain, gradually reaching out to the world market.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have just arrived at the first stop. Please keep your ticket by subscribing to Vihaba’s Podcast channel. The Shades of Vietnam train will continue to go deeper and explore Lao Cai province. On behalf of Vihaba and the entire crew, we’d like to thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you on the next trip.
Have a nice day!
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