Tra Vinh (VNS/VNA) – Three ethnic Khmer handicraft villages in TraVinh province’s Tra Cu district have expanded over the last four years due tohigh demand and support from local authorities.

Two of the handicraft villages are in Dai An and Ham Giang communes, as well asthe sedge mat weaving village in Ham Tan commune.

The Dai An handicraft village uses bamboo to make tables, chairs, baskets, fishcatching tools and other houseware items as well as souvenirs and decorativeitems for houses, entertainment places and resorts.

The Ham Giang handicraft village also uses bamboo to produce high-class beds,tables, chairs and other houseware items, all in high demand by restaurants andtourism sites.

To improve transport to the three villages, the province spent more than 9.6billion VND (410,000 USD) to build nine concrete roads with a total length of8.2km, according to the province’s Department of Industry and Trade.

Thach Chi Na, who makes houseware items in Ham Giang handcraft village,said with the province’s support, many households making handicraft products inthe village have worked since 2015 to set up a handicraft cooperative team.

The village products sell locally and in provinces including Ben Tre, Soc Trang,Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, he said.

Workers at the village have an average daily income of 200,000 – 250,000 VND (8.6– 10.7 USD).

Last year, the Department of Industry and Trade gave 404 million VND (17,300USD) to a household producer Tri Canh in Ham Giang handicraft village to builda workshop, buy facilities and provide vocational training for its 20workers. 

In the first quarter of the year, the department offered consultancy to Tri Canhto set up its showroom, design its logo and make new products.

In Dai An handicraft village, more than 60 locals are making handicraftproducts.

According to Do Van Dung, Vice Chairman of the Dai An commune People’sCommittee, production cannot meet the high demand. Products such as baskets,flower vases and flower baskets are favoured by tourists, restaurants andhotels.

The village earned total revenue of 6 billion VND (257,000 USD) from sellinghandicraft products last year.

However, the two villages are facing a shortage of materials as locally grownbamboo only meets 30 per cent of their needs.  

Most bamboo materials have to be bought from other provinces, causing highproduction costs.

In Ham Tan sedge mat weaving village, locals have produced various types ofsedge mats for nearly 100 years.

The village is famous for its high-quality white-coloured sedge mats andcolored, patterned sedge mats.

Ham Tan has more than 2,250 households. Of these, 478 of them weave mats and 91grow sedge for making mats.

The village produces more than 140,000 sedge mats a year.

Normally, two people working together can weave two sedge mats measuring 2metres long by 1.6 metres a day and earn a profit of 60,000 -70,000 VND (2.5 –3 USD).

Lieng Phuoc Thien, Chairman of the Ham Tan commune People’s Committee, said:“In Ham Tan, most people know weaving sedge mats. Besides working on fields,people use their free time to weave sedge mats.”

The commune has also provided money for locals to buy sedge for weaving mats orto plant sedge to increase income.

The province’s researchers have also created mat weaving machines to weave matsmore quickly compared to manual weaving.

It also has helped villagers buy mat weaving machines to improve productivity.

Tran Minh Canh in Ham Tan was provided with 50 percent of the cost of buying amat weaving machine, worth 35 million VND (1,500 USD) in 2016.

The mat weaving machine helped his family weave 10 to 12 sedge mats a day.

Previously, his family could only make four sedge mats a day via manualweaving.

The commune now has five mat weaving machines.-VNS/VNA