Lac resin is the only natural substance secreted by a species of insect (Kerria lacca). K. lacca as parasites live along the branches of some specific plants called as host plants. Lac resin is an  environmentally friendly product used by many industries. The production of lac resin is popular in many countries. In Vietnam, this career was once developed in some northern mountainous provinces as well as in Nghe An and Thanh Hoa ones. Previously lac resin was harvested mainly for export and this career was lost in the end of the 1970s due to unavailable market after the Eastern European Block collapsed.

Muong Lat district is a locality where the Indian Red Pear (Protium seratum) - one of their host plants, was grown in an area of more than 1,000 ha, and yielded the largest producer of lac resin in the the country. In 2007, when the project was launched, there remained only 100 households of six communes involving in the farming of the lac insects in the district. In Thanh Hoa, Muong Lat is the poorest, remote uplands district where 98 % of its population are ethic peoples. Its infrastructure was poorly developed and it has a harsh climate, particularly in summer when the prevailing dry and hot wind comes from the west (Laos). The UNDP/GEF SGP project aimed to enable local people to restore and develop their traditional farming of red lac insects, thus create sustainable livelihoods based on the protection of local forest ecosystems to increase the coverage of forests and halt the process of desertification and soil deterioration.