Macadamias in bloom and fruiting on tea hillsides

Intercropped plants as a primary income source

Lien Son Commune in Lao Cai was established following the merger of Nghia Phuc and Son A communes (formerly part of Nghia Lo Town) and Nong Truong Lien Son Township (formerly under Van Chan District of the old Yen Bai Province). The area has long been known for its vast tea hills, which were first developed in the 1970s.

For many years, tea has helped local people reduce poverty, but it has not truly enabled them to achieve prosperity. Faced with the challenge of crop restructuring, the intercropping model of macadamia trees with tea plantations has opened a promising new direction. From initial skepticism, the green canopy of macadamia trees is now blending with the aroma of tea, offering the prospect of a sustainable dual income for farmers.

We visited the tea plantation intercropped with macadamia trees owned by Le Thi Chuot’s family in Hamlet 1, Lien Son Commune. Her family was among the first households in the area to adopt this model. A retired tea industry worker who spent her entire life attached to tea hills, Mrs. Chuot said tea cultivation had only provided a modest living. Seeking a new way to improve her family’s economic conditions, she did not hesitate to join the intercropping initiative when the model was first introduced locally.

Today, on more than one hectare of tea plantation owned by her family, over 200 macadamia trees have grown tall and healthy, with 90% of them already flowering and bearing fruit.

Mrs. Chuot shared: “When I first planted them, I was very worried. Many people questioned the idea, asking who would buy the nuts, and saying that planting trees between tea rows would make machine harvesting more difficult. But I still decided to go ahead after visiting many places and seeing that the model worked very well and produced abundant yields.”

Macadamia trees are relatively easy to cultivate, grow quickly, and are resistant to pests and diseases. In particular, their strong drought tolerance makes them well suited to local climatic conditions. Last year, despite being the first harvest season, Mrs. Chuot’s family still collected more than 100 kilograms of fresh macadamia nuts. Compared with fresh tea leaves, whose prices have been unstable and at times dropped to just over 11 cents/kg, she believes macadamia represents the future.

She calculated that even at a selling price of around USD 1.52 per kilogram of fresh nuts, each ton of macadamia could generate approximately USD 1,520 in revenue. This is considered far more profitable than investing year-round in fertilizer, labor, and tea harvesting, which yields relatively low returns.

Dual benefits

Leaving Mrs. Chuot’s macadamia plantation, we joined Tran Quang Chat, Head of Hamlet 1 in Lien Son Commune, to visit nearby tea hills entering the harvest season. Interspersed among the tea rows were lush green macadamia trees laden with clusters of young fruit.

According to Mr. Tran Quang Chat, Hamlet 1 currently leads Lien Son Commune in the area of tea plantations intercropped with macadamia trees, covering 33.8 hectares. He noted that when macadamia is intercropped with tea in accordance with proper technical standards, it not only avoids reducing tea productivity but also creates dual benefits.

Macadamia trees provide an ideal natural canopy. During hot afternoons, their shade helps protect tea buds from scorching while also creating cooler working conditions for farmers during harvest. In practice, tea yields in Hamlet 1 have continued to rise steadily year after year, while macadamia trees generate additional income on the same area of land.

Mr. Chat shared that macadamia productivity increases sharply from the fourth and fifth years onward. Some trees are heavily laden with nuts and are expected to yield up to 20 kilograms each. With fresh macadamia nuts selling at around 76-152 cents per kilogram, local farmers’ confidence in the crop is well-founded.

However, the hamlet head remains concerned about the need to standardize products under the OCOP program to build a distinct brand identity, helping farmers feel secure in production without worrying about the risk of bumper harvests leading to falling prices.

Aspirations for a challenging land

Ms. Truong Thi Huong Giang, Head of the Economic Division of Lien Son Commune, said that intercropped macadamia trees in the locality are entering their first fruit-bearing stage, showing very positive signs. In particular, this year’s flowering rate promises a bumper harvest.

However, macadamia consumption among local farmers remains largely spontaneous. Initial production volumes are still too small to attract deep-processing enterprises or secure long-term purchasing contracts. The commune authorities are actively contacting buyers and consulting market prices in an effort to stabilize market outlets for farmers during this harvest season.

In addition to the intercropping model, Lien Son Commune is also assessing nearly 3 hectares of specialized macadamia cultivation in Hamlet 1. This is considered a strategic step toward building a concentrated raw material zone.

Regarding technical support, Ms. Giang said the commune will cooperate with specialized agencies to organize regular training courses, helping farmers master production processes ranging from planting and cultivation to preliminary processing and product preservation. The goal is to ensure that local people are not left alone during the crop transformation process.

Sharing the locality’s development orientation for macadamia cultivation, Mr. Vu Duc Trung, Secretary of the Party Committee of Lien Son Commune, said: “We will direct mass organizations such as the Farmers’ Union and Women’s Union to work closely with production facilities in guiding local people on proper harvesting procedures. After harvesting, the nuts must be processed immediately to preserve quality. This is a breakthrough step in shifting production thinking from spontaneous practices to professional production.”

Regarding long-term plans, the commune does not encourage scattered or small-scale cultivation. Instead, local authorities aim to develop macadamia plantations in suitable microclimate zones, particularly areas with low wind levels to ensure effective pollination and fruit setting. The commune will also coordinate with reputable seedling suppliers to select the most suitable varieties. Once cultivation areas and output become sufficiently stable, the locality plans to attract investment in processing facilities directly within the commune.

The vision of a specialized macadamia-growing area combined with vast green tea hills is aimed not only at improving local incomes but also at creating landscapes for tourism development. Intercropping macadamia with tea is increasingly becoming a source of hope, opening a new chapter for sustainable economic development in this challenging region.