Arriving at K’Long K’Lanh village (Da Chais commune, Lac Duong district, Lam Dong) in the early spring of 2023, reporters were introduced to Tran Cao Nguyen’s billion-dollar Ngoc Linh ginseng garden. This ginseng garden of Mr. Nguyen’s family is regarding 4 years old and has a high income, a good model for many people to learn and develop.
The beds of Ngoc Linh ginseng growing steadily by Mr. Tran Cao Nguyen.
Mr. Tran Cao Nguyen said that he was originally from Kon Tum province, his family also has a tradition of growing and taking care of Ngoc Linh ginseng. Therefore, when he came to Lam Dong to set up a career, he also had a lot of experience in this precious medicinal plant.
Young man Tran Cao Nguyen with Ngoc Linh ginseng grown in his garden.
“K’Long K’Lanh is a village with an altitude of regarding 1,600m2 above sea level. With the altitude, climate and soil here, it is very suitable for Ngoc Linh ginseng to grow. After quite a bit of research, My family decided to invest so that I can buy 3,500m2 of land in K’Long K’Lanh village in 2019. After having the land, I immediately started to renovate, build a system and conditions for sowing. Ngoc Linh ginseng seeds”, Tran Cao Nguyen shared with Dan Viet reporter.
Ngoc Linh ginseng was planted and developed stably by Mr. Nguyen in K’Long K’Lanh village with an altitude of regarding 1,600m2 above sea level.
According to Mr. Nguyen, in order for Ngoc Linh ginseng to grow stably like under the forest canopy, he invested in building net houses and misting irrigation systems to ensure humidity in the garden. In addition, on the surface of the soil planted with ginseng, he covered with a layer of rotting leaves for the best growth.
Although he has a lot of experience in Kon Tum, but with a new land like Lac Duong, Mr. Nguyen still faced many difficulties in the early days. When sowing for the first time, Mr. Nguyen’s Ngoc Linh ginseng often dies, suffers from fungus, and slows down growth because the temperature in the net house has not been thoroughly treated.
After that, Mr. Nguyen spent time learning how to cure plants on the internet, and at the same time, consulted the methods of friends who had experience in successfully growing Ngoc Linh ginseng in Kon Tum.
When newly planted, Nguyen’s Ngoc Linh ginseng often got sick and died because he mightn’t adapt to the climate and soil in Lac Duong district. Photo: Van Long
Holding two Ngoc Linh ginseng roots that had just been dug out from the ground, Mr. Nguyen said: “After regarding a year of applying healing methods for ginseng from friends and documents found, my Ngoc Linh ginseng garden started. adapt, grow green and produce the first flowers. In fact, Ngoc Linh ginseng in my garden also gives tubers full of active medicinal ingredients.Each year our ginseng garden will nurse regarding 10,000. – 15,000 seeds. To date, I have planted regarding 8,000 ginseng plants a year old.”
8,000 1-year-old Ngoc Linh ginseng plants are growing steadily in Mr. Tran Cao Nguyen’s garden.
Mr. Nguyen also said that Ngoc Linh ginseng is also known as Vietnamese ginseng, Khu Nam ginseng, bamboo ginseng… This ginseng is confirmed to be one of the best ginseng species in the world with 52 main saponin active ingredients.
In addition, Ngoc Linh ginseng also contains fatty acids, amino acids and many other macro and trace elements. These active ingredients help to effectively enhance the immune system, resistance, support cancer prevention, prevent and anti-aging, anti-toxin, anti-inflammatory…
Ngoc Linh Ginseng with 52 main saponin active ingredients is confirmed as one of the best ginseng in the world.
With the above area, Mr. Nguyen divided into beds regarding 2m wide and then sowed. The beds of ginseng growing along the hillside are the garden of Mr. Nguyen. Currently, Mr. Nguyen’s ginseng garden is harvesting finished leaves, seeds, seedlings and tubers.
In particular, ginseng leaves are sold by Mr. Nguyen to his partner for 4-5 million VND/kg. Ngoc Linh ginseng root is sold at the lowest price of 40 million VND/kg, seeds cost from 70,000 to 100,000 VND/seed; Seedlings 1 – 2 – 3 years are priced from 150,000 to 300,000 VND / tree.
Currently, Ngoc Linh ginseng root is sold by Mr. Nguyen for the lowest price of 40 million VND/kg.
According to Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of the first quarter of 2022, the province has only 3,000m2 of Ngoc Linh ginseng planted since 2015 in Da Sar commune (Lac Duong district) coordinated by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City. The Korean Ginseng Group is experimentally planted. Currently, there are a number of enterprises that are researching and experimenting with growing Ngoc Linh ginseng on a small scale in greenhouses, applying high technology to create suitable conditions for Ngoc Linh ginseng to grow and develop. Up to now, Lam Dong province still has no facilities to process Ngoc Linh ginseng products.
