Located under the mountain slopes of Tan Ky commune (Thai Nguyen province), Hoa Muc rice paper, banh gio, and banh cu chuoi making village has persistently existed for more than 30 years, becoming a stable source of livelihood and contributing to preserving local culinary culture, according to the Thai Nguyen Provincial e-Portal.
In the early years, some households in Ban Giac and Ban Don brought upland sticky rice, bamboo tubes and firewood to the side of National Highway 3 to grill bamboo rice, make cakes to sell to passersby. Up to now, the household that has been attached to the profession for the longest time is 33 years.
According to Mr. Vi Van Ty, one of the first people in the profession, initially only making a few tubes of rice, a few batches of cakes to earn extra income, he did not think that traditional craft could support the whole family.
From a few small fires, the craft village gradually developed with 42 participating households, creating jobs for 88 workers, accounting for 81% of the labor force of the two villages of Ban Don and Ban Giac. Every day, the craft village supplies about 1,000kg of bamboo rice, 1,600 banana cakes and 1,300 gio cakes. Average income reaches about 3.5 million VND/person/month, contributing to improving the lives of people in the highlands.
After Tan Son, Cao Ky and Hoa Muc communes merged into Tan Ky commune in July 2025, the craft village has more conditions for development thanks to synchronous planning and support policies. People focus on improving product quality, building brands and strictly implementing environmental protection regulations. Waste is sorted, organic waste is reused, 100% of production households sign commitments not to use banned substances.
At the end of 2025, Hoa Muc craft village producing bamboo rice, banh gio, and banh cu chuoi was recognized by the Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee as a provincial-level craft village.
Mr. Tran Quang Hiep, Vice Chairman of Tan Ky Commune People's Committee, said that the locality will continue to support people to improve product quality, build brands and develop craft villages in a sustainable direction.
In addition, the "Cơm lam Sáng Lê" product of Mr. Ha Ngoc Sang's household has achieved 3-star OCOP at the provincial level, creating regular jobs for 6 local workers, opening up directions to improve product value.
In the coming time, Tan Ky commune aims to increase the income of craft village workers to about 6 million VND/person/month, and at the same time promote the establishment of cooperatives to increase production links, expand markets, helping the fire of Hoa Muc traditional crafts to continue to be preserved and developed.
