Two Dao women in Yen Son Village in the northern mountainous district of Ba Vi cut and dry therapeutic herbs to sell in packages that cost US$0.6–1.8 each.

It’s a slippery slope for Ethnic Dao medicine gatherers who face work hazards, poverty and government restrictions.

They scour the forests surrounding their small enclave of 900 people for fresh medicinal herbs.

Only 50 kilometers from the capital Hanoi, the mountainous district of Ba Vi is more remote and removed than one might think. The village is 100 percent ethnic Dao, a rarity in such proximity to a metropolitan center.

The Dao here have been growing, collecting, drying and selling medicinal plants for generations.

Eighty percent of Yen Son earns their living off the medicinal herbs found in the area.

Though most households cultivate medicinal plants in their home gardens, they still take long day treks into the forest searching for rarer and more valuable wild plants.

After collecting the plants, the therapeutic herbs are cut, dried and sold in small packages.

“Collecting herbs in the jungle is like going fishing,” said 60-year-old herb collector Dang Thi Hoa.

She said that they never know how much they’ll come back with. Some of the most sought-after plants only grow on steep mountainsides or cliffs, and picking them is dangerous, she said.

Hoa’s “colleague,” Trieu Thi Khang likened picking herbs in the forest to “donating blood” to the jungle’s leeches.

The hillsides are especially hazardous on wet and rainy days,when the women’s legs become tired after hours of trying not to slide on the slippery rocks and mud.

They also have to avoid wild animals and snakes. Hoa’s husband Ly Van Thanh was seriously injured when he fell off a steep hill as he collected herbs. Now disabled, he stays at home and dries the herbs picked by his wife.

Most herb gatherers’ arms and legs are scarred and scratched from thorns and rocks.

Though collecting herbs is arduous, it brings only small profits. Each package of medicine costs just VND10,000-30,000 (US$0.6 - 1.8).

Trieu Thi Hoa, chairwoman of the Ba Vi Herbal Plant Association, said the mountainous region has around 280 species of therapeutic herbs.

But the herbal remedies aren’t as abundant in Ba Vi, so many locals travel as far as neighboring provinces Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, and Lao Cai in search of more plants.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Ha from the Military’s Hospital of Traditional Medicine in Ba Vi said his hospital often uses herbal remedies from Dao villages to cure patients of many diseases and afflictions. He said the traditional plants are especially needed here as many remote areas lack a stable supply of Western medicine.

Aside from specific treatment, many of the Dao remedies can be taken everyday to boost immune functions, he said.

His hospital now offers training courses for people who want to learn to pick and preserve herbs for their therapeutic uses.

But Yen Son Village chief Trieu Van Quang said there were many areas of local forests that the Dao are not allowed to enter for preservation purposes.

He said Yen Son planned to ask for permission to collect herbs in areas that were now off-limits.

Reported by Hoang Trung Hieu