Giang A Sau and his wife deposit his money in Van Yen distric’s An Luong Commune of the Vietnam Banks for Social Policies.

Giang Van Sau and his wife carried a heavy bag of money to a transcation unit in Van Yen distric’s An Luong Commune of the Vietnam Banks for Social Policies.

Mr. Sau pilled money on the table, saying that he wanted to deposit VND 4 billion that he earned from selling one of his cinnamon hills. Giang A Sau is not the person own the largest cinamon firl area in An Luowng commnue, as commune officials say many other househilds have several dozen hectares of cinnamon fields. But the stoty of his making monet from cinamon trees is unlike others.

In the 1990z, Sau often left the village to make a living elsewhere as his homeland was bereft of almost everything: no fields, no decend roads, no electricity. However he realized that nowhere is peaceful as his homeland and settled down at his village to grow cinnamon forests to protect water resources.

The larger Cinnamon trees grow, the higher their value. Planting cinnamon tree helps reduce grass, floods, and nourished cinnamon trees and keep the soil humid.

In 2019 season, Giang A Sau sold a cinnamon hill for VND 3 billion which is one of the biggest money in An Luong commune and in Van Chan district. In this June/2021, he sold a cinnamon hill for VND 4 billion – and broke his record in income from cinnamon. He deposited the whole sum at VBSP’s Van Chan district and became the largest depositor across VBSP’s system in Yen Bai province.

According to Mr. Loc Van Doan – Deputy Chairman of An Luong People Committee, the target of the commune is to 2025, An Luong will have 2.200ha of cinnamon tree.  Currently, a kg of preprocessed cinnamon skin fetches around VND100,000 ($4.35); the leaves can fetch VND1,500-1,600 (6.5-7 US cents) per kg, while a trunk of more than 30cm in radius is also sellable.

Doan is confident that An Luong commune would soon reach the target, turning the area into a thriving cinnamon "kingdom" as Dai Son and Vien Son communes in Van Yen district.

These days, the people of ethnic minorities in An Luong commune are growing more vocal about their need for decent roads and power infrastructure to improve their daily lives. With better roads and stable power, more households would build permanent houses and could use machinery for production to drive down the rate of poor and near-poor households in the area.

The project to build Nghia Lo-Mau A Road crossing An Luong commune is now under intensive constructionm and transmission lines are being laid to provide more households in An Luong with access to power, helping to make the dreams of the local H’Mong, Dao, and Tay people come true.