Ginseng is a thin, weak vine that often lies on the ground or needs to lean and pull on other branches and leaves to rise. Ginseng root has a slightly hard outer shell, a light yellow core inside, a mild aroma, a slightly sweet taste…

In 2015, the High-Tech Experimental Agricultural Biology Center (Institute of Agricultural Genetics) conducted the theme “Research, Evaluation and Conservation of Genetic Resources of Mountain Ginseng Common in Bac Giang Province”.

Studies show that the main group of substances in mountain ginseng are saponins, flavonoids (anti-aging active ingredients), organic acids and amino acids. In particular, the saponin content of mountain ginseng corresponds to that of Korean ginseng. To date, Nam Dinh Ginseng is gradually developing into a crop with high economic value.

Profitability from the flower to the tuber

Before 2021, Mr. Nguyen Van Nghia planted only fruit trees such as oranges and grapefruits in an area of ​​nearly 3 hectares in Dong Ky Township, Yen District. However, these plants are inefficient and do not grow as expected.

Therefore, by 2021, Mr. Nghia boldly cut and switched to cultivating ginseng in the south of Gianh Mountain. After the right cycle, it takes 5 years to harvest tubers. However, in this period, there is 1 harvest of ginseng flowers every year, which brings high economic efficiency at first.

According to Mr. Nghia, from planting to harvesting, the tubers may have experienced 4-5 blooms, if all is favorable this index of ginseng blooms is enough to help growers recover capital.

“According to my calculations, when the sails are smooth, the value that mountain ginseng brings can be 5-7 times higher than other crops,” said the owner of 3 hectares of ginseng in Yen The district.

Accordingly, planting 1ha of eucalyptus is of course less maintenance-intensive, but after 5 years it only brings in a profit of around 200 million. When cultivating ginseng in the south of Giac Mountains, the investment can be a dozen times higher, but after 5 years, each hectare can get 8 tons of tubers, with the lowest production price of 600,000 VND/kg, the sales amount of tubers will be around 4.8 billion .

“Except for investment and maintenance costs of around VND 1.8 billion, 1 ha of Nam Giac mountain ginseng can bring a profit of around VND 3 billion after 5 years, national accounting shows that the value is many times higher than with other plants,” Nghia confirmed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Than Hai Dang’s family owns a ginseng garden with ancient ginseng trees in Dong Sen Village, Viet Lap Township, Tan Yen District. Mr. Dang is currently the director of the South Korean Ginseng Production and Consumption Cooperative in Dich Mountain, Bac Giang Province.

Mr. Dang led us into the ginseng garden and pointed to the almost 70-year-old root of the ancestral ginseng. Mr. Dang said that this ginseng root was brought to the market by his grandmother and mother to sell for money to measure rice, then the tree was small, if you cannot sell it, your mother will bring it back and plant him in your garden.

Since then, he and his brothers in the family have been reminded of precious ginseng by their parents, if there are children with fever or heat, dig up ginseng roots to cool them, the disease will gradually recover without using drugs. Neighbors sometimes come to beg, his parents dig for them.

In 2008, he happened to read an article titled “Southern Ginseng That Once Made Its Way to the King and Reappears in a Holy Land” with a picture of his family’s ginseng, but there was another person next to it, so he contacted him directly with that Author of the article to correct the information, introduce the ancient ginseng roots in his garden and directly invite the author to visit and learn. From here, the rare male ginseng is known to many people.

Since then, Mr. Dang and everyone in his family have tried to propagate and preserve this rare ginseng plant. The way to propagate ginseng is also simple, just cover the ginseng branch with soil, after a while the branch will form roots, then cut it off and plant it normally, just like that, it will baby Ginseng plants emerge.

He said mountain ginseng is like a sweet potato, slow-growing and easy to care for. Tubers in 1-2 year old ginseng plants are only the size of an adult’s little finger, after 5 years new ginseng gives high quality and usable tubers.

In 2021, the National Intellectual Property Office issued a Geographical Indication Registration Certificate for ginseng products. In order to develop the material field of medicinal plants, Bac Giang Agricultural Sector has planned an “Orientation for the Development of Medicinal Plant Production from 2021 to 2030”, including a plan to develop mountain ginseng in Tan Binh District. Yen. So far, Nam Dinh mountain ginseng products have been recognized as 4-star OCOP of Bac Giang Province.

link building

Mr. Le Ba Thanh, deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Giang Province, said of the province’s valuable medicinal species that Nam Dinh ginseng is now gradually becoming a unique agricultural product of Bac Giang Province.

“If the place develops ginseng garden on a large scale, expands the model of ginseng cultivation according to the link chain, conservation of genetic resources will create many opportunities for prosperity and development of local economy,” said Mr. Thanh.

According to the head of the provincial agricultural sector, the ministry will continue to support people, including ethnic minorities, to carry out projects to develop ginseng products from Nam Dinh Mountain and bring many processed products from valuable raw materials.

According to the Bac Giang Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total area of ​​mountain ginseng in the province is about 100 ha, concentrated in Tan Yen (71.5 ha), Yen Dung (9 ha), Yen Die (10 ha) districts , Luc Nam (7 ha) 5 ha), Luc Ngan (4.5 ha)…

In it, Tan Yen District has a project to develop Nam Dinh ginseng in the period from 2022 to 2027, with supporting contents such as support for granting planting area codes; Supporting advertising, trade promotion, labels, packaging; support training and propaganda for farmers; supports automatic irrigation system for models with size of 0.5 ha/region or more.

In Yen County, the policy for promoting this medicinal plant is to support 60% of varieties and 50% of materials (fertilizers, pesticides) for Nui Dich ginseng cultivation models.

Currently, products made from Dich Nam ginseng are very diverse, such as ginseng wine made from bulbs and flowers; tea made from ginseng flowers; Star SaViNa premium ginseng essence; soluble ginseng tea; herbal ginseng shampoo; Tay Yen Tu ginseng tea; Nam Dinh Ginseng Eye Brightening Pills; South Mountain Ginseng Energy Drink For…

While there are many benefits, Bac Giang agribusiness has also noted that there are still some difficulties in developing this species. The first is that Nui Gioc male ginseng has just been restored, propagated and initially put into production, a brand has just been built and consumers are still little known, so the possibility of consuming the product is still difficult and not dem market corresponds. Benefits, nutritional and medicinal value.

Besides, the initial production investment cost is very high, around 500-800 million VND/ha, while the harvest season lasts over 5 years. Not to mention that no decision has yet been made for Nam Dinh ginseng to recognize the cultivar’s circulation (according to the Law on Cultivation).

Therefore, Bac Giang Province is expected to develop and complete the procedures to apply to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for recognition of the special breed. Promote the application of science and technology to production such as propagation stages (cuttings, tissue culture…); care and pest control; harvest, pre-processing; Deep processing of products from tubers, flowers, stems and leaves.

Another important solution is to encourage and attract companies with investment potential to associate with households and cooperatives in the process of production, deep processing and consumption of Nui Gioc ginseng products in the province in order to achieve stable and sustainable efficiency to ensure.