Flowers on the Rocks

During the rainy season in Muong Khuong, the Pa Di people begin to harvest peanuts - a specialty with high nutritional and economic value. Peanuts (also known as striped peanuts, Pa Di peanuts) are a typical grain of the Pa Di community with long tubers, thick shells, each tuber has 3-4 striped seeds. Peanuts have a sweet and fatty taste and a higher oil content than other peanut varieties, making them an indispensable dish in the Pa Di people's meals.

According to Pa Di elders, it is not clear who was the first person to grow peanuts in Muong Khuong, but it is known that the Pa Di people have been cultivating this special type of peanut for a long time. Over the past 10 years, the area of ​​peanuts has begun to expand, becoming a popular commodity in the market with a stable selling price, contributing to improving the lives of the Pa Di people. Currently, Muong Khuong commune has about 350 households cultivating peanuts with an area of ​​160 hectares, mainly concentrated in highland villages such as Sa Pa, Lung Pau...

Growing peanuts brings high economic value, so some other ethnic households in the area also participate in farming. However, the Pa Di people still hold their own farming knowledge, are diligent, and persistent in making use of every small piece of land mixed with gray rocks to grow peanuts.

From the previous harvest, the Pa Di people choose large, plump peanuts as seeds. They loosen the soil, dig holes, sow germinated seeds, add fertilizer in the appropriate proportion, and then cover them with soil. From sowing to harvest, they do not add fertilizer, but only weed.

Normally, after Tet, around the second lunar month, people start sowing peanuts and harvest them in the seventh month. This year, due to the leap month of the sixth lunar month, people harvested earlier.

These days, the atmosphere throughout the Pa Di villages in Muong Khuong is bustling and busy. Early in the morning, families exchange labor to harvest peanuts and flowers, the sound of laughter and joy in the joy of a good harvest.

Ms. Ly Thi Lien (Sa Pa village) and her family went to the fields early in the morning to harvest peanuts. When the peanut leaves start to turn yellow and fall, it is time to harvest. Everyone can easily pull up each clump of peanuts, shake off the dirt, and then gather them to bring home.

In 2025, Ms. Lien's family will grow 30 kg of peanut seeds, 1 kg of seeds will yield 50 kg of fresh tubers, with a selling price of 30,000 VND/kg of fresh tubers, 120,000-130,000 VND/kg of dried tubers, each year her family will earn about 50 million VND from peanut seeds.

The person who grows the most peanuts in Sa Pa village is Mr. Trang Lien Din's family with 50-60 kg of seeds/crop, earning about 80-90 million VND each year.

In Lung Pau village, Mr. Liu Su Din's family is concentrating on harvesting peanuts. Looking at the peanut bushes full of tubers, Mr. Din is very happy because the labor and hard work of nearly half a year has paid off. The peanut crop is in full swing, and before the harvest is over, there are already buyers asking to buy, making Mr. Din and the peanut growers in the village very excited.

Peanuts are suitable for the soil and cool climate where the Pa Di people live, so the yield and quality are higher than those grown in other places.

Mr. Dinh Trong Khoi, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Muong Khuong commune, said: "The yield of peanuts usually reaches 2.5 tons/ha. With more than 160 hectares, the annual value of peanuts is about 12 billion VND. This is an easy-to-grow, easy-to-care-for crop with higher economic value than corn and rice, so some areas of ineffective corn and rice cultivation have been converted by people to grow peanuts."

Peanuts are purchased as soon as they are harvested, so growers do not have to dry or preserve them. They only keep a portion for their family's use, and sell the rest to traders.

For the Pa Di people in the Muong Khuong rocky mountains, peanuts have become a key crop that helps reduce poverty and develop household economies. The Pa Di people also focus on expanding the cultivation area of ​​peanuts with the hope of getting rich from this precious peanut variety.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/lac-hoa-tren-nui-da-post880575.html