In Lang Son province, in northern Vietnam on the Chinese border, a settlement that earns from medicinal plants without felling the forest has appeared. In the Ban Den area of Quoc Viet commune (Xa Quoc Viet), "under-forest cultivation" of sa nhan (amomum) in the shade of acacia, camphor and bamboo groves is spreading, and among the 18 households some farmers are earning over 100 million VND a year (about 610,000 yen, converted at 1 yen = about 163 VND). Sa nhan is a raw material that, by its Japanese crude-drug names, corresponds to "shukusha" and "shanin," and it is not unrelated to Japanese spice and crude-drug procurement. We follow the scene where an origin moves from "just gathering" to "growing and selling."
Starting point: 18 households grow sa nhan under the forest
What the local paper Dan Viet reported is the effort of Quoc Viet commune, Lang Son province. In the commune, sa nhan's planted area has reached 76 ha in total, and in the Ban Den area in particular (Village 2 and Village 3), 18 households work 13 ha. What is planted is not a field but under the canopy of the existing forest. Making use of sa nhan's shade-loving nature, they turn the undergrowth space into a medicinal crop without clearing the forest.
The earnings are by no means small. In 2025, local farmer An Phuan harvested 1.5 tonnes of fresh fruit from a little over 1 ha of under-forest land and, selling at 70,000 VND per kg (about 430 yen), earned over 100 million VND for the year. Even Ha Van Tung, who has only just started cultivation, shipped 100 kg of fresh fruit in his first year at 65,000 VND/kg. The Ban Den area's total yield for 2025 is reported at about 6 tonnes.
Why now: the limits of wild harvesting and "forestry without felling"
What draws attention to this move is that it is not merely a side-income story. Sa nhan was originally a plant whose wild fruit was gathered in the forest, but wild supply is dwindling with overharvesting and deforestation. What the Quoc Viet commune farmers are doing is cyclical cultivation: replanting that wild resource by hand under the forest and, after harvest, cutting the old plants that have finished bearing to route nutrients and space to new shoots. The labor is "mainly weeding at the base," and fertilizer is light, too, at about 5 bags of NPK per ha and a fertilizer cost of around 1 million VND. The structure of generating cash income while leaving the forest standing, without felling trees, reconciles mountain livelihoods with forest conservation.
There is local ingenuity in how seedlings are propagated, too. From the eighth lunar month onward, standard seedlings of two shoots and 25-30 cm in height are selected from plants that have finished harvesting, and farmers share them with one another free of charge. Since 2022, the Quoc Viet commune People's Committee has subsidized seedlings within an agricultural-production development program. In Lang Son province, the move to elevate macadamia to a strategic export crop is also advancing, and the border mountain areas have begun to get serious about "cash crops that make use of the forest."
Seen in data: farmers' take-home and the temperature gap with Japanese procurement
Converting the reported figures into Japanese yen at the exchange rate (1 yen = about 163 VND, as of July 2026) and placing them side by side brings the origin's capability into view.
| Item | On the ground in Vietnam | Approximate yen conversion |
|---|---|---|
| Commune-wide planted area | 76ha | — |
| Ban Den area | 13 ha / 18 households | — |
| Purchase price (fresh fruit) | 65,000〜70,000VND/kg | About 400-430 yen/kg |
| Leading farmer's annual income | Over 100 million VND | Over about 610,000 yen |
| Area's annual yield (2025) | About 6 tonnes | — |
What should be kept in mind here is that the prices above are the farmgate value of "fresh fruit" before drying. What circulates as a crude drug is dried fruit and seed, and once it goes through sorting, drying and processing, the unit price changes entirely. Much of the sa nhan / shukusha that circulates in Japan's Kampo-ingredient market is Yangchun sa from Guangdong, China, or shukusha from Vietnam and Thailand. How much value the fresh fruit at a farmgate 430 yen/kg can add through processing and export is this origin's next proving ground.
Voices from the field: from gathering to cultivation, mindsets changed
Paraphrasing and organizing the reporting and local reactions, the mood on the ground is positive. One leading farmer speaks of the ease of cultivation: "Because you don't have to fell the forest, you can keep both the mountain and the income." From a household that has just started come voices like, "Fertilizer and labor are both low, and even if it fails the blow is small. Being given seedlings for free is appreciated." The administrative side shows an intention to expand from one-off subsidies toward corporate linkage accompanied by a purchase guarantee: "We want to raise medicinal plants that had relied on wild harvesting into a sustainable origin by the hands of the residents." As an origin, it is drawing a blueprint to integrate all the way to "deep processing," including not only sa nhan but also Java nutmeg and medicinal plants such as yellow-flower tea (tra hoa vang), and to break out of selling raw material unprocessed.
Implications for Japanese importers and the crude-drug industry
There are three points Japanese procurement staff should look at. First, the character of the raw material: sa nhan = shukusha / shanin. This is a Kampo ingredient with real demand, blended into formulations such as kosha rikkunshito and jinryo byakujutsusan, and by no means a niche wild vegetable. For buyers who have been at the mercy of Chinese Yangchun sa on price and quality, a "cultivated origin of known provenance" growing in northern Vietnam carries the meaning of diversifying sourcing.
Second, the production method of under-forest cultivation itself. A technique for growing medicinal crops while leaving the forest standing fits well with stories of traceability and sustainability. In Japan too, the move to turn a medicinal root at the limit of wild harvesting into a planned cultivated origin is spreading in northern Vietnam, and the value of raw material that can tell "in which forest, by whom, and how it was grown" will rise going forward. Third, the processing stage. Once an origin steps into deep processing such as essential oils and powders, ways of engagement beyond a mere raw-material buyer come into view, such as joint development of processed goods and consignment of primary processing. Quang Nam province's cinnamon quits selling bark and aims at the world with essential oil- this sa nhan origin could follow the same road.
Ripple effects on markets and sourcing networks
Vietnam was originally an origin for cardamoms (including Amomum and cao khuong), and in January-September 2025 it is said to have exported 3,283 tonnes and US$25.7 million of cardamom and nutmeg combined. The main destinations are the Netherlands, Pakistan and the US, and Japan is not yet a main battleground. Put the other way, the route to Japan has ample room to be opened up. The cultivation-derived raw material that small-scale origins like Lang Son build up is still limited in volume, but it is easy to differentiate on certainty of provenance. As processing clusters come online at origins in various regions, mountain medicinal plants, too, are entering a phase of taking one step beyond "just sending raw material."
Practical information and related links
When considering sa nhan (shukusha / shanin) procurement, the first things to confirm are not to confuse the "farmgate value of fresh fruit" with the "price of export-grade goods after drying and sorting," and whether the origin side can meet the quality standards required of crude drugs, such as pesticide residues and heavy metals. An emerging origin like Lang Son is not long into cultivation, and its supply-lot and drying-and-storage systems are still at a stage of being put in place. It is realistic to enter first through dialogue with processing operators and local cooperatives and to assess mass production and quality stability. The following are also useful for the moves of medicinal and special crops in northern Vietnam.
- Lang Son on the China border upgrades macadamia to a strategic export crop
- From forest to field: Quang Ninh turns the medicinal root "dia lien," limited by wild harvesting, into a cultivated crop
- The cinnamon of Tra My in Quang Nam province: giving up bark sales to take on the world with essential oil
Summary: the action to take next
The sa nhan origin of Quoc Viet commune, Lang Son province, is still a small bud on the scale of a few tonnes a year. But with three points in place - an "earn without felling the forest" structure, the administration's seedling subsidy, and an appetite for deep processing - its room to grow as a raw-material origin is large. The next steps to recommend to practitioners of Japanese crude-drug and spice procurement are three: (1) take stock of demand against your own procurement items, treating sa nhan as shukusha / shanin; (2) inquire with origins and processors about post-drying specifications and quality standards for cultivation-derived lots in northern Vietnam; and (3) follow the rise of processing clusters and explore room not only for buying raw material but for consigning primary processing and joint development. As an option for diversifying the procurement of Kampo ingredients that has depended on a single pole, China, northern Vietnam's "origins that don't fell" are quietly gaining presence.
