VietNamNet Bridge – Rumors is spreading in Luc Ngan District of Bac Giang Province about miraculous effects of dried litchi leaves since many traders flocked to the district to purchase dried litchi leaves.
Luc Ngan District in Bac Giang Province produces the most litchi in the country and is the main supply of the fruit for export. Currently, there are about 18,000ha of litchi orchards in the district and about 69,000 tonnes of litchis have been exported recently.

The district has been full of busy trading recently, with dry litchi leaves being the most sought-after products, rather than the locality’s nationally-popular tasty litchi fruits.

Previously, after harvesting litchi, gardeners had to prune and burn old leaves to prepare for the next litchi season. This year, they can sell leaves for VND1,000-VND1,300 ($0.05-0.07) per kilo.

The dry leaves are sold to local traders hired by a company based in Hanoi, whose purpose in buying the leaves remains mysterious to both traders and farmers.

A leave trader told Tuoi Tre newspaper that he was hired by the Hanoi-based Lam Son Co Ltd to buy the leaves, with a simple requirement that the leaves must be clean and intact. The company is run by Son, a former official in the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Trader Nguyen Dang Dao told the Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper that he started collecting dry leaves last month and purchased about 70 tonnes at a price of VND1,000 ($0.04) per kilo. Dao said he was hired by Lam Son Co Ltd to buy the leaves. The company had granted him VND100 million ($4,760) to hire warehouses and pay local traders.

Nobody knows about the real value of dry litchi leaves but if farmers rush to prune the litchi trees to collect a large amount of leaves to sell for larger profits, the trees’ blossoming process will be affected, and so will the crop’s productivity.

Some insiders have expressed concerns that the mass buying of litchi leaves will yield negative effects for local agricultural production, as in the previous cases of leeches and golden apple snails.

With traders now switching to buying litchi leaves en mass, local farmers are likely to chop down all their litchi trees to collect leaves, which has raised concerns in the agricultural sector.
Chu Van Bao, head of Luc Ngan District’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said farmers were collecting dry leaves that had already fallen from the trees, but the department was worried that they would start to pick fresh green leaves directly from the trees.

According to VietNamNet’s investigation, the purchaser of dried litchi leaves is Hanoi-based Lam Son Co., Ltd. This company’s representative said that they buy litchi leaves to export to Japan, which will be then processed into artificial land or fertilizer.

The firm explained that as some areas in Japan was affected by radioactivity, Japan has to import longan leaves from Thailand and now litchi leaves from Vietnam to produce artificial land.

Luc Ngan district’s authorities will work with Lam Son Co., Ltd’s representatives to make clear related issues.

Hoang Sang