Once a survival food during the lean season, mountain yam is now generating new income for highland communities in northern Vietnam through value-added processing.
Once relied on by ethnic communities in northern Vietnam to survive the annual lean season, the mountain yam is finding new life as a value-added local specialty in Pu Nhi Commune, where one entrepreneur is helping transform the forest tuber into a source of rural income.
From a famine food...
Local residents harvest wild mountain yams to sell to Hoang Thi Hoa's processing facility. Photo: Le Duong
Deep beneath the forest floor in Pu Nhi Commune, Thanh Hoa Province, wild mountain yams have grown for generations.
For local ethnic minority communities, the tuber once served as an essential food source during the annual "lean season," when rice supplies ran low before the next harvest.
As living standards gradually improved, the yam largely disappeared from everyday meals.
Today, however, the once-overlooked crop is creating new economic opportunities thanks to the efforts of Hoang Thi Hoa, who has developed a business processing the wild tuber into higher-value products.
Originally from Vietnam's lowland region, Hoa moved to Pu Nhi in 2008.
She initially traded everyday necessities such as rice, salt and eggs for agricultural and forest products collected by local residents. Among them was the mountain yam, a staple food familiar to many highland families.
"In my hometown we often mixed rice with cassava or sweet potatoes," Hoa recalled. "When I came here, I saw local people eating mountain yam instead of rice and staying healthy. I tried it myself, found it tasty and easy to prepare, and gradually began buying more."
After spending years in the community, Hoa discovered through online research in 2023 that mountain yam was being processed elsewhere into food products and ingredients used in traditional herbal preparations.
Believing the tuber could create new economic opportunities while increasing local incomes, her family shifted from trading and livestock farming to purchasing mountain yams for processing into dried slices and powdered products.
"At first, I visited villages asking people to dig the yams for me," she said. "Very few accepted because the tubers grow deep underground. Some are buried two or even three meters below the surface."
Early collection efforts were slow.
Some days she managed to buy only a few kilograms, and often less than 20 kilograms, because supply depended entirely on people harvesting the wild yams from nearby forests.
As more villagers began earning additional income, word spread quickly throughout the surrounding communities.
Today, Hoa sources raw materials not only from Pu Nhi but also from neighboring villages in Quang Chieu Commune.
Income varies depending on experience and luck.
"Some people find only a few kilograms in a day, while experienced couples can collect between 50 and 70 kilograms," Hoa said.
With purchasing prices ranging from VND22,000 to VND40,000 per kilogram (US$0.84 to US$1.53) depending on market conditions, some harvesters can earn several hundred thousand dong - or more than US$38 - per day.
As supply increased in 2024, Hoa invested in machinery to wash, slice, dry and grind the yams into powder, significantly increasing their value.
After expenses, the family now earns tens of millions of dong in monthly profit from the business.
...to creating new livelihoods
Dried mountain yam slices are among the business's best-selling products. Photo: Le Duong
Dried mountain yam slices are among the business's best-selling products. Photo: Le Duong
Hoa says mountain yam can be prepared in many ways, including steaming, boiling, porridge and sweet desserts.
Her business currently focuses on two main products: dried sliced mountain yam and instant yam powder, both of which have been well received by customers.
According to traditional knowledge and references from Vietnamese traditional medicine that Hoa has studied, mountain yam is believed to support digestion and overall nutrition.
Those traditional beliefs have contributed to growing consumer interest in the products.
To preserve quality, however, freshly harvested yams must be processed immediately.
"If we leave them until the next day, they release sap and change color, affecting the final product," Hoa explained.
Processing is labor-intensive.
For every 100 kilograms of fresh yams, the facility employs three to five workers to peel, slice and load the products into dryers during a process lasting around four hours.
Workers are paid about VND20,000 (US$0.76) per hour.
Hoa says her long-term goal is to transform a little-known forest product into a recognized specialty with lasting economic value.
"When the products sell well, local people earn more income, and more consumers discover the specialties of our mountains," she said.
Local authorities in Pu Nhi describe Hoa's business as an innovative model that creates additional livelihoods while making better use of locally available forest resources.
Previously, mountain yams grew almost entirely in the wild and were collected mainly for household consumption during difficult periods rather than as a commercial product.
The establishment of a local processing business has provided villagers with an additional source of income during the agricultural off-season.
Hoa's processing facility provides regular work for three to five local laborers. Photo: Le Duong
Officials also stress that harvesting should be carried out sustainably to avoid damaging forest ecosystems.
In the coming years, local authorities plan to promote responsible harvesting while exploring propagation and cultivation techniques that would reduce dependence on wild resources.
Under the commune's long-term development strategy, cultivated mountain yam production could help conserve native plant varieties while providing the foundation for an OCOP (One Commune One Product) specialty representing Pu Nhi's highland communities.
Vietnamnet.vn
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