News 24h: The old farmer owns a “strange” garden, only picking leaves and selling half a billion dong a year

As a subsistence plant, growing on the branches and trunks of trees with many different types, mistletoe rice is considered the most precious and has a rather expensive price. However, this type of mistletoe is difficult to transplant and not all rice plants have mistletoe. Therefore, people who own rice plants with mistletoe are considered “fortune” bestowed, becoming more and more prosperous.

Farmer Phu Tho owns the largest number of rice plants for mistletoe in Hien Quan commune.

Considered as the locality that still grows the most rice plants in Phu Tho province with hundreds of trees growing all over the dyke, along the river, in the fields or on the beach, coming to Hien Quan commune, Tam Nong district at this time, it is not difficult to see the tree. rice with mistletoe leaves green.

Driving along the Ho Chi Minh trail, to the beginning of Ngoc Thap bridge and then asking people about the households with the most mistletoe in the commune, PV was directed to the inter-commune road about 300 meters away, which is his house. Nguyen Van Thong (born 1955), in area 1, Hien Quan commune (Tam Nong, Phu Tho).

Rice plants with mistletoe grow in abundance.

Before entering the gate, the first thing that caught my eye were dozens of rice plants with mistletoe clinging from root to top, luxuriant. It can be seen that around the neighbors, there is no family with as many rice plants with mistletoe as Mr. Thong’s house.

Stepping into the garden, Mrs. Bien (Mr. Thong’s wife) is diligently picking up each fallen mistletoe leaf. “Each leaf is a bill, so if you fall, you have to pick it up. If it hasn’t been dried yet, someone has come to buy it all for 1.2 million VND/kg,” said Ms. Bien.

Under each rice tree, Mrs. Bien swept clean to easily pick up mistletoe leaves every day.

In order to easily pick up leaves, the bottom of the cleaned rice will not have a single piece of trash. In the garden, do not plant any other fruit trees besides thousands of cloves for medicinal purposes.

The fallen mistletoe leaves are picked up, dried and sold for 1.2 million VND/kg. No matter how many people buy them all there.

Mr. Thong said that rice mistletoe has been considered a precious medicine since ancient times. Those who have rice plants growing in the garden for mistletoe are very precious. However, his garden has more than 30 trees, each tree has mistletoe clinging to it.

Mr. Thong’s garden has dozens of rice plants for precious mistletoe.

“I don’t know when the rice plant was on my land. Just listening to the old people say that it has been hundreds of years. From 1 tree, flowering, fruit dropping, dozens of other trees grow. Especially every tree has mistletoe,” said Mr. Thong.

According to Mr. Thong, rice plants are found in many places, but only purple rice plants have mistletoe growing. In addition, there are many researchers who have tried to transplant and transplant mistletoe onto rice stalks but failed, only a few days before the grafted mistletoe branches wilted and died. Therefore, rice mistletoe is always very expensive.

Each rice plant in Mr. Thong’s house yields from a few tens of kilograms to a kilo of mistletoe each year.

Pointing to the rice tree in the left corner of the garden, Mr. Thong said that 3 years ago someone paid 300 million but he did not sell. Because, selling is losing.

“Rice plants and rice mistletoe cannot be grafted. Meanwhile, it takes 7-8 years to plant mistletoe. Growing for more than ten years, you can get 50-100kg of fresh mistletoe/year. Selling for 800,000 VND/kg, it only takes a few years to get 300 million, not to mention that the rice plant can live for a hundred years, the longer it takes, the more mistletoe, “he analyzed.

From the trunk to the top of the rice tree, there are mistletoe clinging to it.

The rumor that he was near and far away, the fact that Mr. Thong’s house had the most mistletoe in the commune was more and more known to more and more people, coming to the place to order mistletoe. Mr. Thong said that mistletoe grows on different trees but has the same shape, many people are afraid to buy floating and fake goods, so they like to go to the place to see him pick and buy with their own eyes.

The harvesting of mistletoe also requires high technique and experience because if done incorrectly, the next crop will “lose the crop” or the rice plant will die, losing both lead and fishing line.

“It is not necessary to use a knife to get mistletoe, but to break it by hand. Only collect branches over 50cm long, leaving the rest for mistletoe development for the next crop. In addition, mistletoe must also be harvested at the right time, otherwise they will eat the whole rice plant,” said Thong.

In addition to selling rice mistletoe, Mr. Thong also picks up the fruit of rice plants to nurse seedlings, selling them for 1 million VND/small tree, tens of millions of VND/big tree. Around his garden he planted more than 2,000 cloves, each big for 1 million dong.

Currently, in Mr. Thong’s garden, there are 35 rice plants over 10 years old, each tree can yield from 50kg to a kilo of mistletoe. It is estimated that this year his family will harvest about 7 quintals of fresh mistletoe. With the current selling price of about 800,000 VND/kg of fresh mistletoe, not to mention picking up fallen mistletoe leaves every day, this year he is expected to earn over 500 million VND.