VietNamNet Bridge – Local people in Huong Hoa district of Quang Tri province
now go to the forests everyday to pull up huyet dang (Sargento doxacuneata)
plants for sale. They might not know that they are trying to extirpate one of
the most precious plants given by the nature.
Huyet dang plants have been well known to every mountainous people in Quang Tri
province for the last many generations. The people have been told by their
previous generations that huyet dang is a mysterious plant which can help treat
diseases. The extract of huyet dang after it is boiled with water would help
people eat well and sleep well.
Especially, this is called the panacea for the women in mountainous areas. After
giving birth, women should drink the extract of huyet dang for one week to
recover their health. Huyet dang is so nourishing that the women can return to
the rice fields with good health just one week after they give birth.
Huyet dang had been growing in many places of Quang Tri province, existing in
the nature, near residential quarters until recent days, when people began
flocking to the forests to pull up the plants for sale.
Local residents feel happy that they can sell up to VND3,000 for a kilo of huyet
dang, which can bring attractive incomes to them. The merchants who collect
huyet dang plants, say they would buy all the materials local residents can
bring to them.
On March 12, when reporters said to a local resident that they wanted to go to
the forest to find huyet dang, they were told that they needed to go far into
the forest, because all the plants nearby have been exploited.
The reporters had to travel a long distance of 3 kilometers on motorbikes to
reach to the forest, where there are still huyet dang plants.
The plants here are relatively big, which cling to bigger trees. People may chop
down every branch of the plants. And if they want to save time, they would chop
down the whole bigger trees.
Ho Van Tong, 42, in Huc commune, said he can collect 50 kilos of fresh huyet
dang a day, thus earning VND150,000 a day.
Tong said at first, only some households in the localities went chopping down
huyet dang. However, this has become a career of all the local residents. Huyet
dang plants are considered the gifts of the nature, while people don’t have to
work hard to grow them, but still can earn money with them.
However, they might not foresee that the gifts of the nature are limited, and
they would get extirpated one day, if they are overexploited.
Ho Van Lang, Deputy Head of the Huc Commune’s Police Station, said local people
feel happy about huyet dang. However, if nearly one ton of the plants are
exploited every day, the valuable plants would disappear one day.
It is estimated that two tons of huyet dang are sold to merchants every day in
Huc commune. Loan, a merchant, said she would export huyet dang to China after
she collects enough 13 tons. In general, it takes three days to collect the
amount.
How to deal with the overexploitation of huyet dang has caused a headache to the
local authorities. Nguyen Van Thanh from the Huong Hoa district’s forest ranger
unit, said the current laws do not say that exploiting huyet dang is a violation
of the law which is subject to punishment.
Lao Dong