“Gold” inside lign-aloes trunks

The agarwood craft village in Tien My commune (Tien Phuoc district, Quang Nam province) has been well-known for its diverse, abundant, and high-quality agarwood products for decades.

Agarwood is a damaged part of the lign-aloes tree. It is likened to "gold" hidden inside the trunk.

Do Pham Nhat Linh is the owner of an agarwood workshop. It helps his family enjoy a relatively comfortable financial situation with a stable income and improve his life.

To acquire enough raw materials for his production, Linh purchases gardens of over-10-year-old lign-aloes trees. He then drilled holes to create wounds on their trunks, using an heirloom remedy for agarwood induction.

About 2 years after the agarwood induction, Linh uproots the lign-aloes tree to serve his craft.

All parts of the lign-aloes tree are useful. The white wood is used to extract essential oils or make incense. The black is agarwood. It can or cannot be cut into smaller pieces to sell.

The trimming of agarwood requires good skills and cleverness to keep agarwood patterns intact. Agarwood costs several tens of millions of Vietnamese dongs per kilogramme.

Thanks to agarwood, the local life has changed. Vo Hoang Son is an example. Before becoming an agarwood artisan, Son was a worker with an unstable income. Since delving into the art of crafting agarwood, his family’s income is more stable, and his life is better.

Reportedly, the price of artificial agarwood varies depending on the type, ranging from 300,000 to several million Vietnamese dongs for small patterns, tens or even hundreds of million Vietnamese dongs for larger patterns.

China and the EU are very interested in agarwood and agarwood fine-art works. The local market has recently paid more attention to this kind of product thanks to social-networks and e-commerce platforms.

Besides making artificial agarwood, artisans in Tien My hunt for natural agarwood. It helps the locals lift themselves out of poverty.

Currently, making agarwood products is providing over 500 jobs for the locals, accounting for about 1/4 of the local workforce. Agarwood helps improve local residents’ lives, contributing to the positive change in the locality.

(Source: vietnamnet)