Unique Ben Tre floating coconut market - Episode 2: A good profession of 'shedding blood to make money'

13/02/2023 1085 0
​Mặt trời gần đứng bóng, đống dừa khô trước mặt vợ chồng chị Nguyễn Ngọc Lý và anh Lương Văn Nhàn (ấp Vĩnh Khánh, xã An Thạnh, huyện Mỏ Cày Nam, Bến Tre) chỉ còn khoảng trăm trái.

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Mr. Nguyen Van Hau skillfully used a stick to pry the coconut rice apart

While wiping the sweat streaming down her face, Ms. Ly smiled and said: "My husband and I have been peeling coconuts since 12 o'clock at night. Today, we peeled this pile of coconuts for 15 contractor, and my husband and I have 750,000 VND as salary. Want to do more, but I ran out of coconuts to peel, so I found something else to do in the afternoon." Local people often call "coconut contractor" as 200 fruits.

Peeling coconuts, a profession that "sheds blood to make money"

Ms. Ly and her husband are both "newcomers" in the coconut peeling profession, which is considered to have the highest salary in the Thom River coconut market. "My wife is from Vinh Khanh, and I am from District 8, Saigon. At that time, my wife went to Saigon to work as a laborer, then met me and worked as a laborer, so we were married.

At the end of 2021, it was difficult to find a job in the city, so my husband and I packed up and returned to Vinh Khanh to find work. While still healthy, we learned the job of peeling coconuts because the salary was high. After learning the trade for nearly 3 months, we bled a few times from touching the sharp blade of the hammer. We also got used to our hands and the job. We have been peeling coconuts for half a year," Mr. Nhan said.

After 5 minutes of rest, Ms. Ly and her husband quickly inserted the coconuts into the sharp tip of the tree to peel the shell. In about 10 seconds with 4 decisive movements, pressing the coconut into the sharp tip and then bouncing it back forward, the coconut shell was split into 5 segments by Ms. Ly and thrown in one place. As for the coconut shells (coconut seeds), Ms. Ly threw them over to where the traders were sorting, weighing them, and taking them to the port to be packed in export containers or transported to coconut meat processing points.

Ms. Hai Lien, who has nearly 10 years of experience in the coconut peeling profession, said that "newbie" Mr. Nhan and his wife were able to peel for 15 coconut contractor in 12 hours, which is very good. "For veteran coconut peelers at the Thom River coconut market, each person can reach 10-12 contractor in 12 hours of work. Each coconut contractor is 200 coconuts, the peeling fee is 50,000 VND/shell.

Coconut peeling is a labor-intensive job, but many women participate because the wages are high compared to other jobs in the coconut market. However, the job of peeling coconuts often faces dangers lurking from sharp blades, easily causing injury and bloodshed. Out of ten coconut peelers, ten of them have bled many times because of sharp blades, no matter how much protective gloves they wear," Ms. Lien said.

According to Ms. Lien, the bamboo tree is the main tool in the coconut peeling profession. It has a blade like a sharpened spear (a garden knife in the Southwestern region), a blade longer than 20cm, a wooden handle, and a sharp, pointed tip. No one remembers which ancestor invented the bamboo stick or what year it was born, but this tool is present throughout Ben Tre coconut land, effectively serving the coconut peeling profession.

Entering this profession, the first thing the worker has to do is go to the forge and order a hammer that fits his body height (usually the blade must be as high as the worker's waist after being firmly planted in the ground), for a price of 650,000 VND, use about 4-5 years then replace the blade. In the past, coconut peelers stuck the tree directly into the ground, but in recent years, workers have spread the technique of attaching it tightly to a thick wooden board.

"The stick mounted on a wooden board has many advantages such as not tilting like when stuck in the ground, helping the worker stand firmly, keeping one foot on the stick when peeling coconuts, so it takes less effort and accidents are less likely to happen. like when it was planted in the ground," Ms. Lien said.

Thinking it would be easy to eat, my friend who was traveling with me asked Mr. Nhan if he could try peeling the coconut. Climbing onto the board, he stood in a defensive position, but just after inserting the coconut into the shelling stick for the first time, his friend fell down, the blade almost stuck straight into his side. Everyone turned pale.

Mr. Pham Van Minh, a coconut peeler, said that many tourists visiting the coconut market saw women peeling coconuts with sticks, so they thought it would be easy to eat and asked to try it. But after many people had their hands cut and bled because of the sharp blades, coconut peeling establishments are now reluctant to let visitors try it.

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Every day, Mr. Nhan and his wife, Ms. Ly, peel 3,000 coconuts - Photo: HUNG ANH

Easy jobs to make money at the coconut market

The coconut peelers told me that at the Thom River floating coconut market, before being processed into other products, dried coconuts must go through the hands of three workers: peeling the coconut shells, peeling the coconut meat, and peeling the coconut. The job of peeling coconut shells is dangerous and uses a lot of energy, while prying coconut meat and peeling coconuts is considered a light job to make money.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hau, a coconut peeler, said he used to be a coconut peeler. Due to the hard work, he switched to coconut picking for more than two years.

"After splitting the dried coconut into two, it is passed to the worker to pry the coconut meat. The worker's main working tool is the pry, a type of wooden-handled knife with a long, small blade, curved tip and quite sharp. The pry blade has a cloth-covered handle. The pry tool is produced by blacksmiths, priced at 170,000 VND, and can be used for 2-3 years. Thanks to the pry tool, the work productivity of coconut pryers increases by 5- 6 times compared to before," Mr. Hau happily said.

Reaching out to take half of the coconut, he pried the tip of the stick into the junction between the shell and the coconut meat and then rotated the coconut shell. In a few seconds, the coconut rice and coconut shell separate. Mr. Hau transferred the coconut meat to the coconut peeler, and the shell was taken out for the barn owner to sell to the charcoal kilns.

"Prying coconut meat does not take much effort but requires dexterity. If done well, a worker can make 6 coconut shells (1,200 coconuts) per day, and the salary of the barn owner is 50,000 VND/shell. Every day, the workers handle 4-5 coconut storks. This job does not have a set time, the owner of the phone shop can go picketing at any time," he said.

Holding up his left hand wearing a protective glove, Mr. Hau said that without a glove, his hand and fingers would be easily injured due to frequent contact with the sharp pry blade.

Nearby, dozens of women sat amid large baskets containing coconut rice. Those are coconut peelers. Ms. Pham Thi Hang, more than 3 years of experience in the profession, said that she peeled coconuts from 3:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and was about to finish the job, with the amount of coconut meat she peeled was more than 400kg.

"Coconut peelers mainly use a paring knife to remove the brown silk layer of the coconut meat. This job is light, so the salary is also... light. For peeling 1kg of finished coconut meat, the worker is paid 1,000 VND by the barn owner. A good worker can peel 500-600kg of coconut meat in a day," Ms. Hang said.

Coconut meat, after removing the husk, is sold to businesses that produce coconut milk or desiccated coconut for 10,000-15,000 VND/kg depending on the time. As for the silk shell, which still has a thin layer of coconut meat attached, coconut oil pressing facilities buy it for 5,000 VND/kg.

According to Mr. Vo Van Hung (Tam Hung), a trader with 32 years of experience buying and selling at the coconut market, it is estimated that each year Thom River coconut barns supply the market with more than 10,000 tons of cleaned coconut meat.

I asked at the Thom River coconut market how many people work in coconut peeling, and how many of them are women? Ms. Lien laughed and said: "I can't know, I haven't heard anyone say it, I only know a lot. From An Thanh to Khanh Thanh Tan and neighboring localities, wherever there is coconut trading, there are workers there peeling coconuts for high income".

HUNG ANH

Source https://tuoitre.vn (Tuoi Tre Online)

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