The “Improving the livelihoods and health care of ethnic minority people via the conservation and development of traditional remedies and herbal plants” project coded VM049 was implemented by SRD in collaboration with Yen Bai Oriental Traditional Medicine Association. After two years of implementation in the Cam An and Bao Ai communes in the Yen Binh district of Yen Bai province, the project has ended.
The closing workshop for the project took place July 9th 2015. Attending the workshop was Ms Tran Thi Hong, the Vice President of the People’s Committee of Yen Binh district, Mr Dang Van Hai and Mr Hoang Van Dai , the respective presidents of the People’s Committees of Bao Ai and Cam An communes, and Ms Nguyen Thi Hoa, the Deputy Director of SRD. Together with the farmers involved in the teams and groups growing herbal plants in the two abovementioned communes.
The workshop
At the workshop, speaking on behalf of all of the local authorities, Ms Tran Thi Hong expressed her appreciation for the contributions of the project that were made towards creating a new source of livelihood that subsequently improved the lives of the locals, helped the locals understand the importance of herbal plants and assisted them in making a plan for the plantation and conservation of herbal plants. She also spoke of her desire for SRD and the Yen Bai Oriental Traditional Medicine Association to continue their support towards the alleviation of poverty for residents of Yen Binh district in upcoming projects.
Ms Tran Thi Hong, the Vice President of People's Commitee of Yen Binh district
Mrs. Hoang Thi Nhat of the Bao Ai commune was a participant in the project and she very much appreciated the project for all of its support. She said that “The project brought a host of benefits for our Dao community. In the past, we did not notice that herbal plants could generate income for our families. We grew the plants on a small scale and did not use any planting techniques to do so. Now, I can have my own medical herb garden thanks to the animated guidance of the staff. I hope that the donor and SRD will launch more similar projects to keep us out of poverty.”
Participants were discussing during the break
With regards to SRD, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa expects the locals will maintain their own medical herb gardens as it acts as a source of sustainable income. She made further remarks about how the project not only improve the knowledge of locals on the conservation, production and use of traditional remedies and herbal plants, but that SRD also got the chance to enhance its organizational capacity in working with the communities. On behalf of SRD and the donor, Ms Hoa gave her thanks to the local authority of Yen Binh district and the Yen Bai Oriental Traditional Medicine Association for their invaluable support to the project’s activities.
As the representative for the Yen Bai Oriental Traditiontal Medicine Assoictation and head of its project management board, Dr Tran Quoc Toan provided a summary of project activities within the two years of implemenation while speaking at the workshop. He also emphasized the contributions and results of the project which met the proposed objectives as following:
- To conserve and sustainably develop the local forests and medinical plants;
- To increase the income of local households through improvements to the value chain of herbal plants; and
- To popularize the use of traditional herbal plants and remedies through documentation and communication.
Dr. Tran Quoc Toan, the representative for the Yen Bai Oriental Traditiontal Medicine Assoictation and head of its project management board
Main activities of the project:
- Researching the potential medicinal plants that have significant economic value. The project, in collaboration with experts from the Vietnam Forestry University, conducted a survey in the Yen Binh district of Yen Bai province to identify five types of plants that currently have a great demand in the market and will continue to in the future. These plants are as follows: Ophiopogon japonicas, Polyscias fruticose, Disporopsis longifolia, Ardisia silvestris and Stephania dielsiana
- Organizing training to raise the awareness on the benefits of medicinal plants for the locals. The project assisted locals in making a detailed plan for the plantation of the five plants selected and held -workshops on compost training, on plant care, on pest and disease control and on the processing of medicinal plants.
- Training locals to carry out research on the value chain belonging to the five medicinal plants and supporting them in connecting with purchasers. Also, ensuring a stable price and encouraging locals to develop growing areas for the herbal plants that would allow them to provide a stable and long-term source of supply of medicinal plants.
- Documenting the growing techniques and how to care for the herbal plants. Most notably, combining it with the experience of the locals in growing herbal plants so to share their knowledge with people that are not involved in the project.
A book on growing techniques for the herbal plants: http://issuu.com/srdvietnam/docs/sach_ky_thuat_trong_cay_thuoc_nam_f
- Holding communications events to expand the locals’ knowledge of medicinal plant conservation and forest protection and development. The project also built a village convention that garnered the commitment of 80% of households on the topic of herbal plant conservation and forest protection and development. It reinforced the commitment of the locals to their local authority.
- Conducting activities related to policy advocacy like news and articles published in local newspapers and television stations to promote the importance of recovering medicinal plant areas in increasing the income of local people all the while maintaining and developing oriental medicine. The project built a policy brief to fully analyze the situation of herbal plants area shortage and the need of recover them.
The policy brief: http://www.srd.org.vn/images/project-publications/ban_tin_chinh_sach.pdf
Achievements
After two years implementation period from August 2013 to July 2015, the project succeeded in enhancing the understanding of the ethnic minorities about the benefits of the conservation of herbal plants and their development so that they could not only utilize them, but also protect and develop forests. Moreover, it acted as a small but important part in health care activities for ethnic minorities and helped the local government to understand the importance of recovering the growth areas of herbal plants to offer sustainable development for oriental medicine in Yen Bai province specifically and Vietnam more generally.
Impressive numbers
- 616 households were involved in growing medicinal plants
- Medicinal plants occupied a total area of 123,000 square miles.
- More than 1000 households were direct beneficiaries
- More than 10000 households were indirect beneficiaries
- More than 30 households with people with disabilities benefited from the project
- The households’ income increased by 15-20% as a result of growing medicinal plants in their gardens.
A video of the project's completion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6haPa8PEICo&feature=youtu.be
Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD)
No.31, Alley 19 Kim Dong Street, Hoang Mai District, Ha Noi
Phone: +84 24 3943 6676/78 | Fax: +84 24 3943 6449
