Agricultural markets on highlands

On every Saturday morning, Raglai people in To Hap town (Khanh Son district) and neighboring communes bring agricultural products to the Hap Thinh Residential Group Community House to sell at the To Hap agricultural market. This unique market not only sells agricultural products and agricultural tools made by the people but also helps people change their perception of agricultural production and trading.

The To Hap agricultural market opens only once a month on Saturday for ethnic minorities in the mountainous district of Khanh Son to buy and sell agricultural products. Mau Thi Loan (Son Binh commune) has been selling agricultural products at the To Hap market for 2 years. Every month when she comes to this market, she picks vegetables and tubers from the fields the afternoon before to sell them in time. Since the market opened, Loan has been able to meet many people and communicate more confidently. Bo Bo Thi Loan also brings to the market safe, fresh and affordable homegrown fruits and vegetables. Bo Bo Thi Loan shares that in the near future her family will grow more vegetables, fruit trees and sell other items to earn more income.

People buy and sell agricultural products at the agricultural market in To Hap town in November 2024.

Meanwhile, Bo Bo Thi Phuong (To Hap town) shared: “The To Hap town market has mainly stalls of ethnic minorities, with typical local agricultural products, forest products harvested by local people, such as clean vegetables, wild vegetables, black pork, bamboo shoots, honey, wild bananas, lingzhi mushrooms, fruits, handicrafts woven from bamboo, rattan... Like my family, every market session, we bring free-range chickens, bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, wild bananas to sell. There are many people going to the market, so everything is sold out in just 1-2 hours”.

For those who come to To Hap town market for the first time like Nguyen Duy Xuyen (Nha Trang city), he felt excited to be immersed in the fresh air of the highland, with the joyful cultural and artistic activities organized at the market. Xuyen also looked to buy clean agricultural products grown and harvested by ethnic minorities such as wild vegetables, black pork, hill chicken, bamboo shoots, banana flowers and delicious fruits of Khanh Son... "I find this market quite interesting, organized in the poetic space of pine hills, the cool weather of the highlands. The locality should expand the scale of the stalls, have more traditional cultural and artistic performances of the Raglai people to attract visitors, developing it into a tourist destination", Xuyen said.

First held in September 2023, up to now, 15 markets have been held, some with 20-30 stalls; initially, only ethnic minority households in To Hap town joined, but now households in neighboring communes have also registered to sell products at the market. The market has created favorable conditions for ethnic minority households in the area to exchange and buy agricultural products or handicrafts made by themselves; contributing to changing people's awareness in their efforts to develop production through creating typical, quality agricultural products to sell at the market to escape poverty with the support of the State. The market has gradually become known to and participated in by more people inside and outside the district, each market session is more crowded than the previous one, with some attracting nearly 1,500 people to experience and buy agricultural products.

Do Huy Hiep - Head of the Ethnic Affairs Department of Khanh Son district expressed: “This market is not only a place to exchange goods but also has many recreational activities, imbued with the cultural identity of the Raglai people in Khanh Son district. Through trading, it helps people change their awareness, expand cultivation, production, and trade agricultural products to create a stable source of income, and escape poverty. Previously, ethnic minority households were very shy about exchanging and trading goods, but now when going to the market, agricultural products are consumed quickly, prices are stable, so every day the market opens, people proactively bring their agricultural products to sell. Currently, Khanh Son district is providing support to maintain the To Hap agricultural market and expand it to other localities”.

HAI LANG

Translated by T.T