VietNamNet Bridge – Jewel orchids (Anoechilus Roxburghii) have been exploited spontaneously for export to China. Meanwhile, this is an endangered precious plant variety, which must not be exploited for commercial purposes.

Local people in the Central Highlands have been flocking to the forests to look for jewel orchid (Anoechilus Roxburghii) leaves for selling to Chinese merchants.

The uses of the herbal medicine were discovered more than 10 years ago. However, the plants only have been hunted strongly recently, when Chinese came and placed big orders.

The plants grow only in old forests, and they appear mostly in the rainy season. However, despite the heavy rains, local people still, one after another, go to the forest these days to hunt for the previous herbal medicine which is believed to cure a lot of diseases.

Merchants now pay up to one million dong for every kilo of fresh leaves. They would also come to the forest’s edge to meet people, collect leaves and pay money on the spot.

Encouraged by the big money which can help them change their lives, people have turned over a lot of forests here to look for 0.1-0.2 kilos of leaves. The luckiest people may find several hundreds of grams every day.

Tham and his wife said that they had to work hard under the heavy rain from the morning to the afternoon, but found only two hundred grams, which they sold for 200,000 dong.

“It was easier to seek them in the last few years. But jewel orchids have disappeared because of the overly high demand. We always have to go far and far to the forests.” Tham said.

Ngo Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Nature Conservation Department of the Forestry General Directorate, an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has expressed his worry that the exploitation of jewel orchids on a large scale would destroy the biodiversity and devalue the precious genetic sources.

The Decree No. 32 date March 30, 2006 on the management over precious endangered flora and fauna stipulates that the exploitation of Anoectochilus spp (IA Group) for commercial purposes is prohibited.

Dung said that this kind of plant was mentioned by the decree 32, because this is a very precious plant which may get exhausted in the wild. The massive exploitation would make the situation more serious. The plant faces higher risk of exhaustion also because it only grows in rainy season.

Jewel orchids can be seen not only in Kon Tum province, but also in many provinces of the Central Highlands and northern mountainous areas.

Citing the provisions stipulated in the decree, Dung said local forest ranger units have been assigned the management task in the field. People should be given sufficient information to understand that they must not exploit the precious plants.

If Vietnamese continue selling jewel orchids abroad, foreigners may conduct the tissue culture or propagation, thus making the plants less valuable.

However, Vietnam encourages people to grow jewel orchids, like other types of precious plant varieties, considering this a method of conserving precious endangered plants.

However, people can only grow these kinds of plants after getting the permission from the local forest ranger units. Meanwhile, they have to follow the current laws in trading the plants as merchandise.

It’s still unclear why Chinese try to collect jewel orchids leaves in big quantities.

Dan Viet