STO - With an area of 3 hectares of land growing white Quan Am lotus, Mr. Nguyen Van My, Phuoc Binh hamlet, My Thuan commune, My Tu district ( Soc Trang ) has an income of 3 - 5 million VND/day.
After decades of rice cultivation on alum soil, rice yield and selling price were unstable, so in 2020, Mr. Nguyen Van My decided to switch from rice to lotus cultivation. The type of lotus Mr. My chose to grow is Thai lotus or Quan Am lotus, this is a new crop in My Thuan commune. Although few people know about it, Mr. My still decided to test growing this type of lotus, because through research, he found that lotus grows very well in alum soil in some neighboring provinces. Because it is a new lotus variety, the cost of buying seedlings is high. With an area of 1 hectare of lotus, the cost of seeds is up to 70 million VND. To have a stable output, he went to flower shops to receive supplies. The lotus was planted for 60 days and yielded the first harvest, with the quantity reaching over 1,500 flowers/day/ha, the selling price from 3,000 - 7,000 VND/flower (depending on the time), helping Mr. My earn millions of VND per day.
Mr. Nguyen Van My, Phuoc Binh Hamlet, My Thuan Commune, My Tu District (Soc Trang) next to his 3-hectare Quan Am lotus growing area, earning millions of dong per day. Photo: THUY LIEU
From the economic efficiency of lotus, Mr. My continues to convert 2 hectares of rice fields to grow lotus. Currently, with 3 hectares of white Quan Am lotus, he earns from 3 to 5 million VND/day. Especially in the months with big full moon days, lotus prices increase, earning 10 to 12 million VND/day. In addition to lotus flowers, lotus stems and leaves are also ordered by traders every day, on average he earns 400,000 - 500,000 VND/day. To increase income in lotus fields, Mr. My has also raised striped snakehead fish. Harvesting fish once a year, the amount earned is more than 40 million VND.
Mr. Nguyen Van My confided: “Growing lotus does not require much care, the only hard part is harvesting flowers twice a day, at 2am and 2pm. When the flowers were first planted, not many people in the locality knew about them, so the flowers were mainly supplied to shops in Can Tho for consumption. However, over the past year, local customers have ordered a lot of flowers, and the amount of flowers is not enough to meet the demand. Realizing the potential of Quan Am lotus is quite good, I have propagated lotus seeds to sell to people who want to grow them, the price of seedlings is 9,000 VND/plant. The good and outstanding point of growing Quan Am lotus is that the flowers are harvested all year round, every day there are flowers in the field to harvest. Therefore, to ensure the plants grow well and produce many flowers, I often add organic fertilizer to the plants once a month.”
Comrade Vo Van Be - Director of Soc Trang Agricultural Extension Center informed that growing lotus for flowers combined with raising striped snakehead fish is becoming one of the effective livelihood models in some localities in Soc Trang province. Particularly for the model of growing Quan Am lotus at Mr. My's household, it shows that the economic value of lotus flowers is very large. Along with that, growing lotus for flowers uses less fertilizer than growing lotus for mirrors or shoots, helping to reduce investment costs, reduce the impact of chemicals on the environment, the ecosystem of animals and plants in the fields and less impact on human health. Thereby, to grow lotus with productivity and quality, it is recommended that farmers plow, harrow, create a suitable topsoil layer of mud before planting, treat golden apple snails, and apply organic microbial fertilizer. Plant seedlings in the early morning or cool afternoon. Lotus is planted for 7 days, check the field and replace dead plants in the cool afternoon; In lotus fields, it is necessary to ensure enough water for the plants to grow, and keep the water level regularly from 10 - 20cm for 15 days after planting.
THUY LIEU
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