The largest cinnamon growing area in Lao Cai is Bao Yen province. Here, cinnamon is grown in large quantities, bringing high quality and improving people’s lives. So what has brought about such a big change in this land?
Bao Yen district is the eastern gateway of Lao Cai province
First of all, let us give you a brief introduction to this land. Bao Yen district is the eastern gateway of Lao Cai province, 75 km from Lao Cai city, 263 km from Hanoi. It has a natural area of 827.91 km2. The district has 15 ethnic groups living together. Ethnic groups living in the area have their cultural characteristics, but in the process of labor, production and resistance against foreign invaders, the ethnic groups in the district have formed solidarity, attachment, and creation of unity in the cultural characteristics of the Bao Yen ethnic community.
To become an agricultural development area, Bao Yen needs to have advantages in terms of weather and land. The climate in Bao Yen is hot tropical climate, forming two climate sub-regions: Northeast and Northwest. Land resources, climate and underground minerals have created favorable conditions for Bao Yen to develop a comprehensive agro-forestry-industry economy.
Due to the influence of geological structure, most of Bao Yen’s land is yellow-red ferritic soil. Bao Yen’s topography is strongly divided, with high mountains, deep ravines and narrow valleys. The natural area of the district is large, but mainly forest and forest land account for more than 70% of the natural area of the district.
Not only has abundant natural resources like rare and precious forest products, primeval forests; but Bao Yen forest also has a variety of birds, animals and some precious medicinal herbs. Natural land in Bao Yen is capable of growing industrial crops and fruit trees.
Because of such good natural conditions, cinnamon in Bao Yen has many advantages to grow and develop. Now let’s find out how cinnamon has grown in Bao Yen!
Cinnamon trees were planted scatteredly in the district 30 – 40 years ago
Although it is not the first locality to plant cinnamon trees, Bao Yen is the district with the largest cinnamon area in Lao Cai province. People planted cinnamon trees in communes and towns in the district 30 – 40 years ago. However, it was not until 2010 that people really cared about developing this tree.
Since the cinnamon oil extraction factories came into operation, the cinnamon growing area in Bao Yen district has been continuously expanded; creating a breakthrough in the development of the forest economy here. 3-4 years ago, when there was no factory, the cinnamon growing area of the whole district was less than 5,000 hectares; in 2021 it has increased to about 21,000 hectares. Communes with large cinnamon growing areas such as Yen Son, Xuan Hoa and Vinh Yen continuously exceeded the annual plan.
Currently, the total area of cinnamon in Bao Yen district reaches 22,000 hectares, an increase of four times compared to 2010. In which, the area of cinnamon from 1 to 4 years old has 3,545 ha; the area of cinnamon over 4 years old starting to thin out leaves and branches has 9,805 ha; The area of cinnamon over 10 years old starting to collect bark is 8,650 ha. Up to now, in Bao Yen district, there have been 3 large-scale cinnamon oil processing factories. Previously, the factory only operated seasonally, now it can operate all year round thanks to abundant raw materials.
With more than 6,000 hectares of cinnamon, people think Xuan Hoa and Vinh Yen communes as the cinnamon “capital” of Bao Yen. Xuan Hoa is a commune with the largest cinnamon growing area in Bao Yen district, with over 3,200 ha. Vinh Yen commune has about 2,600 hectares of cinnamon.
Bao Yen cinnamon growing has significantly improved people’s lives
Cinnamon has made a marked change in people’s lives. When we go to Xuan Hoa, the western strip of Bao Yen district, we can see it is full of cinnamon and there is no shortage of billionaire farmers. Thanks to cinnamon trees, the village no longer has poor households. Now, if the families need money, they just need to cut a little cinnamon to cover their expenses. Each year, people in Bao Yen district earn more than 1,120 billion VND from cinnamon trees, including exploiting bark and pruning branches and leaves.
Cinnamon is a tree with a long business cycle, long life and high economic value for people. Each hectare of cinnamon yields about 6 – 8 tons of dried cinnamon bark; 80 – 10 tons of leaves and branches (used for distilling essential oils), and 80-100 m3 of wood. Economic value for cinnamon growers is more than 500 million VND/ha. The average profit per year for cinnamon growers is more than 30 million VND; 2 times higher than that of other trees such as acacia, while the investment cost is similar.
In the context of the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and market fluctuations, some other key crops such as tea, lemongrass, and mulberry have difficulties in consumption; but cinnamon growers are still “living well”, the price of cinnamon still tends to increase. The mobilization of resources from the people to build public works such as cultural houses, roads… is also more convenient.
So how can cinnamon help the people here get better? Let’s explore the quality of Bao Yen cinnamon with us!
Bao Yen district is the first district to receive FSC certificate of cinnamon growing
This is the first district to receive FSC certificate from the Forest Stewardship Council for over 5,700 hectares of cinnamon forest. Bao Yen cinnamon products as well as Lao Cai cinnamon ranked third in the country in terms of quality and essential oil content. With cinnamon essential oil, by modern methods, Bao Yen cinnamon oil is less prone to impurities, has high purity and quality.
Cinnamon products in Bao Yen also confirm the quality of organic standards, which can penetrate high-end markets such as European and American countries…
Shortly, along with planning an appropriate cinnamon growing area, Bao Yen is promoting to attract businesses to invest, forming a production chain to improve the value of cinnamon. Bao Yen district is also focusing on planning a sustainable cinnamon area. The province is striving to reach a cinnamon area of about 26,000 hectares by 2025 and reach 30,000 hectares by 2030.
Ladies and gentlemen, we just had an interesting journey in Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province. Please keep your ticket for the next stop by subscribing to Vihaba’s Podcast channel. The Shades of Vietnam train will continue to take you to other promised lands in Lao Cai. 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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Shades of Vietnam: Lao Cai – A Northwest highland province with famous Cinnamon and Tea