International Ngọc Linh ginseng festival set for 2025

A woman offers Ngọc Linh ginseng roots at monthly ginseng fair in Nam Trà My District of Quảng Nam Province. The province plans to host the first ever International Ngọc Linh Ginseng Festival in 2025. — VNS Photo Công Thành

QUẢNG NAM - The central province of Quảng Nam has proposed hosting the first ever international Ngọc Linh ginseng (Panax vietnamensis, or Vietnamese ginseng) festival next year – an event to push the brand and promote investment opportunities for international partners in the central province.

Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Hồ Quang Bửu said they have asked for support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in organising series of programmes for their special three-day event.

Bửu said the festival would open in Tam Kỳ City and the mountainous Nam Trà My District – a key centre of the Ngọc Linh ginseng plantation area – from August 1-3, 2025.

The province will invite partners and countries specialising in ginseng farming and production including China, South Korea, Japan, to share experiences and investment plans for processing and production of high-value ginseng goods, he said.

A field trip is organised at a Ngọc Linh ginseng farm in Nam Trà My District of Quảng Nam Province. — VNS Photo Công Thành

A series of conferences and seminars, farm trips and business visits will be planned for Quảng Nam in the latter part of next year.

Ngọc Linh ginseng, grown both in Nam Trà My District in Quảng Nam Province and Kon Tum, was formally recognised as a National Brand and given a Geographical Indication in 2018.

Quảng Nam Province has asked the National Assembly to build a law on Vietnamese ginseng, or a legal framework for sustainable development and protection of the national herbal medicine brand.

It has built a strategic plan for developing infrastructure projects linking the ginseng farming zone, worth a total of VNĐ2.4 trillion (US$96 million) for the development of Ngọc Linh ginseng in 2030-45.

The province is also urging the Government to bring in big investments from TH Group, Vin Group and other major businesses in the major Ngọc Linh ginseng farm zone in Nam Trà My District.

The first and a major Ngọc Linh Ginseng hi-tech processing factory and research centre was built at Tam Thăng Industrial Park in Tam Kỳ City with an investment of $5.4 million from the Sâm Sâm Company.

An engineer works at a laborarory for Ngọc Linh ginseng research in Tam Kỳ City of Quảng Nam. The province has called for investment in researches and farming of Ngọc Linh ginseng in Nam Trà My District. — VNS Photo Công Thành

The central province plans a growing area for Ngọc Linh ginseng of 15,567ha, across seven different zones.

The district of Nam Trà My hosts a monthly Ngọc Linh Ginseng Fair in the first three days of each month, where at least 30kg of the local ginseng roots are traded.

According to Nam Trà My District, more than 42,000ha of primary forests have been preserved in order to protect the development of both ginseng and other native herbs.

Nam Trà My District and Hamyang County in South Korea have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on tourism, agriculture, conservation and the development of the local ginseng.

Ngọc Linh ginseng has been listed as as one of eight precious and endangered flora genes including Ba Kích (poor man’s ginseng), pepper, cinnamon and large-size rattan and white corn, in a provincial conservation programme.