Sweet osmanthus flowers can be made into delicious herbal tea. — Photo nld.com.vn

THÁI BÌNH — Sweet osmanthus trees have proven to bring significant value for gardeners in Thái Bình Province.

With its medicinal and decorative values, sweet osmanthus brings high economic benefits to gardeners, providing them with opportunities to earn stable income.

Sweet osmanthus, also known as Osmanthus fragrans or sweet olive, is native to the Himalayas, China and Taiwan, among other territories. It is often sold at a very high price, up to billions of đồng.

There are many experimental farming models of this plant in Việt Nam, specifically in Thái Bình Province’s Đông Hưng District, with high economic efficiency.

Nguyễn Xuân Trọng is the first person to successfully grow ornamental sweet osmanthus with tiny flowers and sweet fragrance in Hồng Việt Commune in Đông Hưng District.

At the moment, Trọng’s garden has about 800 to 1,000 sweet osmanthus trees interspersed with peonies and thousands of sweet osmanthus varieties.

Trọng said that sweet osmanthus’ flowers can be used for perfume production and herbal tea, bringing in significant economic value.

Every year, his family earns over one billion đồng from growing sweet osmanthus.

“Next season, I will expand the nursery area and plant more sweet osmanthus to increase productivity and value per unit of cultivated area,” Trọng said.

Success in crop restructuring has brought Hồng Việt from being a remote and poor commune of Đông Hưng District to an area with a dynamically developing economy, with an income per capita of over VNĐ50 million per year.

Meanwhile, Bùi Xuân Thuỷ in Khánh Cường Commune in 2021 planted 700 sweet osmanthus trees in 5,000 m2 of land, with an initial investment of VNĐ200 million (US$8,592.3).

According to Thuỷ, sweet osmanthus trees that are five years old and above will secure higher sales and, at the moment, he has 70 trees priced at VNĐ4 to 5 million per tree.

Similar to Trọng, Thuỷ plans to expand his business to increase productivity and increase the value of the land while building a brand that meets OCOP standards for sweet osmanthus trees in Khánh Cường Commune.

Main crop

Sweet osmanthus is an easy plant to grow on different types of soil and by many methods, such as seeding or marcotting. Of the two, marcotting is more popular given that it can shorten the growing time.

Vũ Minh Thuận in Hồng Việt Commune said that sweet osmanthus trees have high survival rates. However, for them to grow bigger, produce more fragrant flowers and secure higher sales, the growers must take good care of them.

The size and age of a sweet osmanthus tree determines how much it is sold for. While a small tree is priced at tens of thousands of đồng, one that is over one year old can be sold for millions of đồng per tree, according to Thuận.

He added that he was able to earn a profit of VNĐ600 million for his garden of 70 trees that are one year old and some other smaller trees.

“Sweet osmanthus has become the main crop, bringing the main source of income for my family, and at the same time, creating regular jobs for two local workers with an income of VNĐ200,000 per person per day,” Thuận said.

Not only gardeners, but also seedling and ornamental plant dealers quickly grasped the market's demand.

Nguyễn Văn Việt in Hồng Việt Commune has recently switched from trading lemon, Japanese jasmine, peony and bougainvillea to sweet osmanthus trees because of rising consumer demand. — VNS