“Pocket” 250 million VND/ha/year

Bamboo shoots like Taiwan were experimentally cultivated in Kon Gang Township (Dak Doa District, Gia Lai Province) almost 15 years ago, and initially brought success with high profitability. However, the production is still small, as is the process of processing and consuming products, so it has not been paid much attention by many people.

Faced with this situation, in 2020 the Municipal People’s Committee carried out a project to support production development and livelihood diversification under the National Sustainable Poverty Alleviation Target Program. Accordingly, 19 poor and near-poor ethnic minority households in Kop village were assisted to grow 8.3 ha of bamboo shoots. The total cost of implementation is over VND 346 million from supporting state capital and mutual sources of the people. After 3 years of implementation, the project has brought positive results, Taiwanese bamboo shoots are really helping ethnic minorities here step by step out of poverty and stabilizing their economic life.

Many other families have seen the impact and have now boldly switched from some inefficient crops to growing bamboo shoots. So far, 30 households in the community have grown bamboo shoots covering an area of ​​over 18 hectares.

Once upon a time, Mr. Grol’s family (Kop Village) belonged to the near-poor category of Kon Gang Township and had 5 sao land to grow cassava, but it was inefficient due to pests and diseases, and the income was very precarious. In 2020, Mr. Grol’s family was supported by the Kon Gang Commune People’s Committee to participate in the bamboo shoot cultivation model and only had to spend VND 3 million in counter-funds.

When the municipality sponsored seeds and fertilizers, Mr. Grol’s family took the opportunity to get involved in the project. After about 10 months of planting, his family’s bamboo shoots were harvested with 5 tons of fresh bamboo shoots. Aside from the investment costs, the first year’s harvest helped his family earn nearly VND100 million. At the beginning of the second year, the bamboo garden yielded over 10 tons of fresh crops, Mr. Grol’s family earned nearly VND 150 million.

“Bamboo shoots have a much higher economic value compared to cassava and are also very easy to grow. With my current income, my family’s life is also less miserable, no fear of hunger like in previous years,” says Mr. Grol happily.

According to the agricultural cadastre official in Kon Gang Township, Taiwanese bamboo shoots have a lifespan of more than 30 years, high economic efficiency and relatively stable yield. On average, about 900 bamboo shoots can grow on each hectare, after deducting expenses, people earn over VND 250 million/year.

Bringing seeds from Taiwan to the central highlands

Ms. Ho Thi Van (Kop Village, Kon Gang Township) is considered a pioneer when she brought Taiwanese bamboo shoots to Kon Gang land more than 10 years ago. After returning from a labor export in Taiwan, Ms. Van boldly brought bamboo shoots to Taiwan for testing. Unexpectedly, like in Taiwan, bamboo shoots grow very well on the very dry and barren land of Kon Gang Township. In particular, bamboo shoots were harvested with a much higher yield than local bamboo shoots in only about 10 months.

Since Taiwanese bamboo shoots are easy to grow and suitable for the climate and soil here, Ms. Van decided to tear down more than 1.5 hectares of old coffee to switch to this plant.

“Dai Loan bamboo shoots are harvested all year round with an average garden yield of 30-35 tons fresh/ha. The selling price is currently between 20,000 and 30,000 VND/kg, after deducting investment costs, the family earns almost 350 million VND per year,” said Ms. Van.

In order to maximize the economic benefits from bamboo shoots, Ms. Van’s family diligently began researching and processing them into Crispy Bamboo Shoots, Sour Bamboo Shoots and Dried Bamboo Shoots in 2017. Not only that, to improve the product value, Ms. Van registered these products to participate in the OCOP program and was certified for achieving 3 stars in 2020.

According to Ms. Van, Taiwanese bamboo shoots are currently popular in the market because of their sweet, crunchy and non-bitter taste and easy processing. Since then, many customers inside and outside the province come to order in bulk. At present, Ms. Van’s bamboo shoot production plant puts out more than 3 tons of products every year.

“In order to have enough bamboo shoots to supply the market, my family has worked with a number of households in the community to expand the planting area, provide technical guidance and sell products to the people,” said Ms. Van.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Kon Gang Township, said the bamboo shoot cultivation model is really effective and helps many people in the area escape poverty. Not only that, growing bamboo shoots can improve mixed gardens, utilize bare, degraded, abandoned land, especially in areas with land lacking water for production, on river banks, and can protect the water source, prevent erosion.. .

“In order for bamboo shoots to have stable and long-term development in the coming period, the community will mobilize people to set up a production association linked with the processing of bamboo shoots to produce quality products to supply the market. Also, encourage people to expand the area for planting bamboo shoots, at the same time mobilize people to convert inefficient crops into fruit trees, adapted to local natural conditions to diversify crops and help people step by step step out of poverty,” Mr Nguyen shared with Van Thanh.