Many local farmers in Phongsaly province are shifting to plant cardamom after earning lucrative income from growing this crop and selling it to Chinese traders.

Some families earned as much as 40 million kip (US$4,900) per year from growing cardamom, which enabled them to send their children to school and build new houses as well as improve their living standards.

Uncle Paeng Phongsone, 56 years old, from Mokyon village in Phongsaly province’s Samphan district told Vientiane Times last week that cardamom was not the main crop planted in his family but it still brought them a huge income.

“I earned 40 million kip last year from growing cardamom, particularly the Guangdong species. Other villagers also earned huge incomes from this crop, ranging from 20 million to 40 million kip,” he said.

However most villagers are very concerned about the fluctuation of the cardamom market, particularly when more people move to grow this crop as the prices might go down.

A painful lesson has been learned by farmers who grew rubber and falling princes of rubber led farmers in many provinces of Laos to lose profits while some had to resort to destroying their trees to grow other crops instead.

Therefore the farmers in Phongsaly province do not want the same lesson to be repeated and called for the government to help sustain the market.

An expert from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Khamsone Sisayout told Vientiane Times last week that the price of cardamom has always fluctuated over the past 10 years but it has mostly increased.

“We conducted a survey in 2014 and found that the value of cardamom exports was as high as US$40 million in that year. But I think that the exact figure could be higher,” he said.

“Our problem is that we have still yet to find the end user for our cardamom so that farmers can earn more income.”

At the moment, farmers in Phongsaly province mainly sell their cardamom to purchasing agents who often try to push down the prices they pay for the cardamom.

An agriculture official in Phongsaly province, Bounhieng Saensoulin said more than 7,000 hectares of cardamom has been grown in the entirety of Phongsaly province, of which 1,500 hectares are grown in Samphan district.

“The demand for cardamom is quite high at the moment. Chinese traders usually come to buy cardamom directly from villagers,” he said.

There are two types of cardamom, including Pakxong and Guangdong species. The price of cardamom (Guangdong species) ranges from 320,000 kip to 400,000 kip per kg while the price of Pakxong is about 40,000 and 50,000 kip per kg.

Authorities are still guessing as to what the cardamom is used for in China and speculated that it could be being used in the manufacture of herbal medicines.

Cardamom is not only generating income for farmers but also helping to prevent deforestation in the province because cardamom requires a shady understory to thrive and cannot tolerate direct sunlight.

US$1 = 8,100 kip