Plenty of money to spend during Tet
Present in Vinh Phuc village (Quang Vinh commune, Duc Tho district) on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2025, we noticed that most of the people's gardens were covered with dong leaves, green, with large, beautiful leaves.
As one of the largest dong leaf growers in the village, Ms. Nguyen Thi Vien (78 years old) shared that her garden is more than 3,000 square meters wide, of which nearly half is used to grow dong leaf.
“My family has grown dong trees for many generations. The leaves of this tree are basically cut and sold once a year during Tet to make banh chung,” Ms. Vien shared.
According to Ms. Vien, on the occasion of Lunar New Year 2024, she cut and sold 30,000 dong leaves, with a selling price of 60,000 VND/100 leaves, she earned 18 million VND.
"This year, I plan to cut and sell the same amount of leaves as last year. The selling price this year will probably be higher, so I will earn about 20 million VND," Ms. Vien said excitedly.
Ms. Vien also shared that currently her dong leaf garden has had traders come to order. From around the 10th to the 20th of the 12th lunar month, she will cut and sell them to them.
Easy to grow, low maintenance
According to Ms. Vien, the dong leaf tree used to grow on the banks of streams in the forest. Later, people brought it home to try planting it and it grew well thanks to the land in Vinh Phuc village located along the Lam River, with fertile soil and lush alluvium.
From a few households growing, then other households also asked for seeds to plant, over time, now most of the villagers grow this dong leaf tree to sell every Tet to earn extra money to spend during Tet.
“This Tet holiday, I harvest the leaves, then apply lime at the base to kill pests. When the base sprouts, I apply phosphate, and in October, apply a little nitrogen so the leaves grow quickly, become big and beautiful, and sell well for Tet,” Ms. Vien said.
The garden of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ha (50 years old) in Vinh Phuc village has nearly 350 square meters of dong leaves. Mrs. Ha said that her family has received a "deposit" from a trader to buy dong leaves.
She plans to cut and sell 10,000 leaves this Tet holiday, earning about 5-6 million VND to cover expenses and Tet shopping. Ms. Ha also affirmed that dong leaves are easy to grow, require little care, and require little investment, so many families here continue to grow them to have money to spend during Tet every year.
According to the leader of Quang Vinh Commune People's Committee, currently, Vinh Phuc village has about 100 households growing dong leaves with a total area of over 10 hectares. Of which, households with small areas grow about 300 square meters, while households with large areas grow more than 1,000 square meters.
Every Tet holiday, thanks to dong leaves, the smallest family can earn 4-5 million VND, many families can earn about 20 million VND. Through that, there is a significant additional source of income to cover expenses and Tet shopping, helping people celebrate Tet more fully, happily and excitedly.
