Each year, locals from the districts collect the spice from their gardens and forests in August and September, generating welcome income. Cardamom is highly prized for its use in Chinese traditional medicine, while Lao folk are known to make herbal tea from the plant’s root to aid digestion and relieve headache. The plant flowers in April and May, and then develops its seeds which are ready for harvesting from August. Most of the spice collected in Long and Namtha districts comes either from local woods or planted varieties such as Guangdong cardamom from China, with seedlings costing local growers 1,000 kip each. Cultivated cardamom varieties take three years to bear seeds with the plant preferring a mix of sun and shade and access to plenty of water, making hilly Luang Namtha’s climate ideal. Regular spice yields growers about 5,000 kip per kg and wild cardamom 20,000 kip, while 1 kg of planted Guangdong cardamom returns about 40,000 to 50,000 kip a kg. The cardamom plant usually lives for 10 to 20 years and can produce an abundant crop whereas the Guangdong species has a small yield, making it more expensive. One farmer from Long district, Mr Sackda Vongmingseng, said he planted about four hectares of Lao and Guangdong cardamom on his property five years ago. This year with the drier weather, he has harvested about 200kg of the Lao variety and 20kg of Guangdong cardamom. “The cardamom harvest is down this year because there has been a lot less rain,” Mr Sackda said. Traders from Long district come to purchase his cardamom crop which in turn is on-sold to Chinese buyers in Yunnan province.
Information source: http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/ and LaoFAB
