Women in Cu Lao Dung district in the southern province of Soc Trang make bamboo craft which help them increase their income and creates jobs (Source: VNA)HCMCity (VNA) - Surrounded by bamboo, Tran Thi Do, 76, quietlysplits each bamboo tube into thin wickers for weaving baskets.
Manyresidents of Thai My craft village in Ho Chi Minh City weave baskets like Dodoes every day, but they are all elderly women and men.
Dosaid the youth are giving up this job for better work in industrial zones.
“Onlyold people in the village still do this job because we are old and we love thiscareer. Locals now can not earn a living by weaving as this did previously,” Dosaid. “I make a pair of baskets a day, getting only 12,000 VND (0.5 USD), justearning some money to buy candy for kids,” she said.
Previously,bamboo and rattan weaving could feed the whole family and greatly contributedto increased income and reduced poverty in the village, but with thedevelopment of the economy, plastic and aluminum products gradually “kill”bamboo baskets.
ThaiMy village is not unique. Dozens of traditional craft villages in HCM City areencountering the same human drain. Its 64 craft villages have lived throughmany difficult periods, but have fallen victim to cultural change, fasturbanisation and global economic integration. Now barely 19 remain.
Theirproduction scale has been halved or more, and lacking new orders, many peoplehave turned to other jobs. “Weaving is not dead, but it is having a hard timeexisting. Some people do it in their free time for fun, but they don’t expectanything more from it,” said Do.
NguyenThi Bay, a traditional craftsman in Tan Thanh Tay commune, reminisces abouttimes when traders and consumers from Dong Nai, Tay Ninh and Long An provinceswould compete for products.
“Now,we cannot compete with industrial products due to lack of capital, small scaleproduction, monotonous product design, and backward technology. Regretfully, wehave to give up,” Bay said.
NgoVan Ty from District 6 said his product was very famous in the region. “Mybroom is made entirely by hand and is very strong. Traders in the wholesalemarket often came to collect the goods. But over the past three years ourproduct cannot compete with others at low prices,” Ty said.
Peoplelike Ty have been left behind, unable to afford a life based on traditionalcraft making.
Somevillages have been successfully in find an eco friendly niche for their craftproducts, applying technology together with promotion and marketing.
"Ihave to always update new designs to match trends. To improve export, ourproducts must be more beautiful, durable and lightweight,” said Nguyen Huu Ben,director of Thanh Truc bamboo blind production company. “Due to love for andregret for my ancestors’ career, I want to preserve this for my descendants.”
"Fortraditional craftsmen, this work is our life, the memory of our lineage. Inever quit the job, still do it when someone asks. We are still finding ordersand also want to develop our products but we don’t have money,” said Vo Thi Xuyenof the Binh An mat weaving village in District 8.
Accordingto director of the Lua Viet Tourism Company Nguyen Van My, traditional craftvillages risk disappearing not only in HCM City, but also in Hanoi, Hoi An andBinh Duong province. “The reason is weak co-operation between craft villagesand enterprises. To save the villages, the State needs to reduce taxes for themand obtain more investment for infrastructure, My said.
Somevillages have linked the traditional craftwork with developing tourismservices. But they operate on a small scale.
VuDuy Dan, chairman of the Vietnam Craft Villages’ Association, said loss of asustaining craft also leads to loss of community cohesion, making it weaker andmore vulnerable. “The craft sector should be able to offer a good livelihoodand preserve the culture of local people,” he said.
TranTruong Son, deputy head of the Farmer’s Association in HCM City, saidestablishing co-operatives to manage the remaining 19 villages would be a wayof saving them.-VNA
VNA
