At the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Ho Quang Buu stressed that the annual festival aims at introducing Vietnam’s rare medicinal plant, known as “green gold”, to both domestic and international consumers.

Under the Prime Minister’s decision on approving the Vietnamese ginseng development programme until 2030 with a vision to 2045, Ngoc Linh ginseng is identified as a strategic plant with potential to drive socio-economic development for ethnic minorities and mountainous communities.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recognised the cultivation and processing of Ngoc Linh ginseng as part of Vietnam's national intangible cultural heritage.

Buu asked local Party committees, administrations, and people in ginseng-growing areas to preserve and develop the original Ngoc Linh ginseng variety, prevent the introduction of others, and combat fraud in the breeding, cultivation, and trading of counterfeit products to safeguard the Ngoc Linh brand. They were also tasked with strengthening geographical indication management, advancing conservation planning, and preparing for the successful organisation of the International Ngoc Linh Ginseng Festival in 2026.

Ngoc Linh ginseng is mainly cultivated in Nam Tra My, Tra Leng, Tra Tap, and Tra Linh communes. The planned cultivation area spans over 15,000 hectares, with 100 hectares currently under conservation, equivalent to about 2 million plants. The material zone covers more than 1,650 hectares, involving over 1,800 households in the growing process. Twenty-two enterprises have registered to grow ginseng under the forest canopy on nearly 350 hectares.

The festival will run until August 3./.VNA