Phuc Trach Agarwood Land
Arriving in the mountainous commune of Phuc Trach, almost every house has gardens filled with agarwood trees (also known as do Tram). In addition to the decades-old agarwood gardens, many young agarwood trees continue to be planted in between.
The family of Mr. Nguyen Duc Co (75 years old, village 7) grows more than 2,000 agarwood trees on an area of 6,000 square meters. According to Mr. Co, large trees with a diameter of about 30cm - 40cm have a selling price of about 40 million VND, the smallest trees cost 1 million VND.
According to Mr. Co, the process of caring for agarwood trees is also easier than other types of trees. When the agarwood trees are 7-10 years old, they can be exploited.
The older the agarwood tree, the greater its value, the more oil it contains and the more beautiful it is. Natural agarwood produced from wounds on trees damaged by borers is worth hundreds of millions of dong.
Agarwood trees that do not show signs of injury will naturally produce agarwood. Growers must drill holes into the trunk of the tree, creating wounds to produce agarwood. When the tree is about 10 years old, growers begin to drill and punch holes into the trunk to produce agarwood.
“Nature has favored Phuc Trach with a special climate and soil for growing agarwood trees. The amount of agarwood in the agarwood trees here is very large and fragrant, but when planted in other neighboring communes, the quality is not the same. This also creates the value and brand of Phuc Trach agarwood,” Mr. Co shared.
With decades of growing agarwood, income from this tree is the main source of income for most families in Phuc Trach commune.
Not only planting, but currently in Phuc Trach commune, many families have built facilities to purchase and process products from agarwood trees such as producing incense, agarwood beads, and agarwood handicrafts.
Ms. Vo Thi Nga (village 8) is one of the owners of a large agarwood production and trading facility. In addition to growing more than 10 hectares of agarwood, Ms. Nga's family has been in the agarwood processing business for 10 years, earning revenue from exploiting, processing and trading agarwood of several billion VND each year.
At this time, like other agarwood production facilities in Phuc Trach commune, Ms. Nga's family is always busy producing and preparing goods to serve the increased demand of customers during Tet.
Prosperity thanks to agarwood
Mr. Tran Quoc Khanh - Chairman of the People's Committee of Phuc Trach commune - said that the locality has advantages in climate and soil, so growing agarwood trees has high economic value thanks to the abundance of agarwood and its great fragrance.
Currently, more than 90% of households in the commune grow agarwood, many of which also participate in purchasing and processing products from agarwood trees. Agarwood processing in Phuc Trach commune has been recognized as a craft village by the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province.
In Huong Khe district, there are 682.5 hectares of agarwood trees, mainly concentrated in Phuc Trach commune with an area of 350 hectares.
With high economic value, agarwood trees help the people of Phuc Trach develop the economy and get rich on their homeland. Each year, the revenue from agarwood trees brings about 95 billion VND to the people of Phuc Trach commune.
In 2020, the Vietnam Agarwood Association researched, surveyed, and evaluated agarwood trees in Phuc Trach commune (Huong Khe district, Ha Tinh province) for very high quality agarwood, among the top among agarwood growing areas.
