The Hai Duong commune, of Hai Hau district in the northern province of Nam Dinh has been a long-standing home to areca trees. In recent years, the plant has helped local people improve their livelihoods thanks to their abundant crops at profitable prices.

  When arriving to Hai Duong these days, you will witness the beautiful countryside landscape, full of green areca trees. Areca are everywhere and blossoming out of every corner. Local people say they pocket some 50 to 60 million VND for each crop. Hai Duong has nearly 150ha of land for planting areca. As the trees require little care, all local households plant at least 100 trees each. Many of them are growing thousands of trees. Thanks to the high economic value gained, the coastal district of Hai Hau now has a large area for plating areca. However, local growers are still dependent on wholesale buyers, leading to unstable revenue. As such, local farmers are looking forward to new policies that support the sustainable development of the tree. –VNA