Buckwheat trees in Ha Giang are often planted here at the end of the year in conjunction with the famous Buckwheat Flower Festival. Picture: Dao Thanh.
During a recent work trip to Ha Giang Province, Mr. Matsuo Tomoyuki, President of the Japan-Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, said that Japan’s demand for importing raw buckwheat seeds to make soba noodles is indeed very high. The latest survey shows that the quality of buckwheat seeds grown in Ha Giang is much higher than other places.
Therefore, in the past, the Association has planted buckwheat in an area of about 100 hectares with a total production of 50 tons almost everywhere in Ha Giang Province, with the largest concentration in Meo Vac District. , Vi Xuyen, Hoang Su Phi and Ha Giang town.
Mr. Matsuo Tomoyuki also said that the Japan-Vietnam Food and Culture Association will plant more areas in the districts of Ha Giang Province in the coming year. The last export shipment was 5 tons of buckwheat seeds. The association is expected to export 300 to 600 tons of Ha Giang buckwheat seeds to Japan in 2023.
Cao Banh Hamlet, Phuong Thien Township, Ha Giang City, is a site selected by the Japan-Vietnam Culinary Culture Association as a pilot material area for buckwheat seed planting projects for seeds. According to the local government, the contract area is around 5ha. Buckwheat is a tree that is quite easy to grow and live, and has a long association with the Ha Giang people, so the implementation of planting and cultivating seeds will not encounter many difficulties.
However, in the past, people only planted flowers for the development of tourism, so they didn’t pay attention to productivity and yield. Another problem is that buckwheat shows signs of seed degradation over many life cycles due to the use of broodstock, so the percentage of plants that give seed is probably only about 30% of the cotton rate, which is also a problem.
Mr. Le Thai Hung, chairman of the People’s Committee of Phuong Tien Township, Ha Giang City, said that to ensure the yield of buckwheat seeds, the local government has mobilized people to plant high-quality buckwheat seeds so that they grow at the right time to to welcome the tourist season and serve to harvest seeds to ensure two objectives. Promising that the sale of buckwheat seeds in the Japanese market will be long-lived, helping local people earn a large income from this flower that has been associated with the rocky plateau for generations.
At present, about 400 hectares of buckwheat are planted throughout Ha Giang Province, mainly in Ha Giang City and the mountainous areas in the north of the province. Buckwheat flowers have long been cultivated by ethnic minorities in the Stone Highlands to be used as products and commodities serving the needs of the market, such as market selling flowers in Ha Giang Province and some neighboring provinces such as Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai, Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen wants to grow…
The buckwheat rice terraces have attracted many tourists to Ha Giang. Picture: Dao Thanh.
Buckwheat is planted by the people of Ha Giang from August to October. The flowering period lasts from September to December. A buckwheat crop takes only 3 months from seed to harvest. .
From 2015 to now, the Stone Plateau Buckwheat Flower Festival has been organized by Ha Giang Province as an annual tourism program, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists.
The buckwheat tree grows high on slopes, on the road, at the foot of the mountain, on the steep pass around, and has quite strong vitality. Flowers of pink, purple and white colors bring gentle and wild beauty to the rocky highlands of Ha Giang, giving this land a strong tourist attraction. The connection between the consumption of buckwheat and buckwheat products by the Japan-Vietnam Culinary Culture Association will bring a new direction to this flower and increase the income of people in the rocky highlands of Ha Giang.