Wild weeds grow wild in the fields of Ca Mau. People grow them as a specialty vegetable and the rich crave them.

Ms. Quách Thị Tuyết, residing in Hamlet 5, Tân Thành Commune, Cà Mau City, has 1.2 hectares of rice paddy land that she converted to growing sedge more than 10 years ago.

According to Ms. Tuyet, her rice field is flooded, resulting in low rice yields, while the reeds that grow naturally are plump and tender.

At first, her family only gathered the water chestnut plants to eat, but as the plants grew more and more abundant, she started harvesting and selling them.

Seeing the promising income from water chestnut cultivation, her family uprooted water chestnut plants and replanted them throughout their fields. Growing water chestnuts doesn't require seed preservation because the tubers left in the soil during the dry season will thrive when the rains come.

Cultivating sedge requires very low investment costs but provides harvests throughout the season. The sedge season runs from May to the end of September in the lunar calendar. Every morning, Mrs. Tuyet and her family members wade out to the sedge fields to harvest them, returning home around 10 a.m.

Because there was a large quantity of sedge, Ms. Tuyet hired some women from the neighborhood to help peel the sedge from the stems, paying them 5,000 dong per kilogram.

Every day, Ms. Tuyet harvests 7-10 kg of peeled water chestnut stalks. After peeling, she stores them in styrofoam containers with ice. This method helps the stalks become firmer, whiter, and tastier. The next morning, she sells them to traders for 40,000 VND/kg, and demand exceeds supply.

The profession of cultivating water spinach—a weed that used to grow wild in the fields and then processing it into specialty, clean vegetables—has provided Ms. Quách Thị Tuyết (second from the right), from Tân Thành commune, Cà Mau city (Cà Mau province), with a stable income.

Mrs. Tô Thị Cà often takes advantage of her free time to visit Mrs. Quách Thị Tuyết's house to peel reeds, both to earn a little extra income and to have a chance to chat with her.

Ms. Truong Thi Nga, from Hamlet 5, Tan Thanh Commune, Ca Mau City (Ca Mau Province), also rents one hectare of land to grow sedge. Every day, Ms. Nga harvests, peels, and sells about 4-5 kg ​​of sedge retail at 50,000 VND/kg. For her, this money helps her cover some of her family's living expenses.

Ms. Tran Nhu Thao, President of the Women's Union of Tan Thanh commune (Ca Mau city, Ca Mau province), said that currently, more than 10 female members in Tan Thanh commune earn their main income from growing water spinach.

In particular, some members have proactively converted their low-yield rice fields to cultivate water chestnuts. Compared to rice cultivation, the income from growing water chestnuts is much more profitable.

Each hectare of water chestnut cultivation yields an income of 15-20 million VND per year. For women in suburban communes like Tan Thanh, water chestnut is a gift from nature, providing an ideal and sustainable source of income.

Source: https://danviet.vn/cay-nan-bop-co-dai-moc-hoang-la-liet-ngoai-dong-ca-mau-dan-trong-lam-rau-dac-san-nha-giau-them-2024082717431175.htm