Speaking of the lotus, we must mention the lotus region of Dong Thap Muoi. In the Long Tan community in the Nhon Trach (Dong Nai) district, lotus is one of the typical products that farmers have been investing in and caring for for many years. One of the typical cooperatives that has brought the Dong Nai Province lotus plant closer to local consumers is the Truong Phat Agricultural Service Cooperative.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Le, Director of Truong Phat Agricultural Service Cooperative (Vinh Tien Township, Long Tan Township) spoke about the process of starting a lotus tree business and said that her family and many farmers in the community soon switched from growing rice to farming in 1998 lotus cultivation. Because at this point, a foreign company has returned to the area to invest and sign a contract for people to supply Lotus for them.

However, in the harvest season, when the farmers brought each lotus bag for sale, the company did not buy them because the size did not meet their standards.

“My family was also one of the victims who had to dispose of the withered lotus in the field at the time. Loving my relatives, loving my own relatives, it was then that I had the idea of ​​how to help people in my hometown. That’s where I started to do lotus. Fresh lotus is quickly damaged and dried, small lotus is difficult to sell, separate from the lotus heart to make tea… At that time, I only had a determination to sell customers, help families and relatives to have income and the profession of lotus cultivation,” Le said, saying that in 2020, the Truong Phat lotus processing plant will begin to be born.

First she put her family’s peeled lotus seeds on the market for sale, gradually had many friends, she thought of making other lotus seed products such as lotus powder, lotus seed tea and started shopping them for her children in the community, then in the district.

In order to compete with lotus products from other regions, Ms. Le also asked her people to plant according to the cooperative’s method so that the harvested lotus seeds have the same quality as the lotus variety provided by the cooperative, how to harvest lotus (every 3 times a day , lotus seeds must not get into the water when picking, etc.) and, above all, do not use chemical fertilizers, but organic fertilizers.

By 2020, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Le reached the finals of the Central Women’s Startup Competition with products made from her local lotus seeds and won the National Pioneer Woman Award. In addition, it won the second prize in the Dong Nai Provincial Ministry of Science and Technology Innovation Competition at the end of 2020.

Up to now, Truong Phat Agricultural Service Cooperative has 19 products from Lotus that have obtained OCOP certification, of which 11 products have obtained 4-star provincial-level OCOP. In particular, the cooperative’s nutritious lotus powder product is one of the three products of Dong Nai Province to be awarded the national certificate of typical rural industrial products by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in 2021.

Products processed from lotus of the cooperative such as nutritious lotus powder, nutritious lotus powder with heart, fresh lotus seed, dried lotus seed, butter-dried lotus seed, honey-dried lotus seed and lotus seed tea, lotus root tea, tea lotus heart, lotus tea, milk powder, herbal powder… are obtained from locally available raw materials, in grown in a clean environment, organically, with no preservatives.

The aim of this cooperative is to offer consumers the best products to improve their health, especially those with insomnia. In order to have a stable area of ​​raw materials for processing, Ms. Le works with relatives in the township and district to expand the lotus planting area to over 70 hectares and is committed to consuming all the products. She also creates seasonal jobs for more than 40 local women and 10 people who work regularly at the factory.

“Now I feel very confident because I have processed many products and made full use of the lotus plant to make all kinds of lotus products, suitable for all ages and good for health,” Ms. Le shared.

At present, Truong Phat lotus products are sold at 63 agents in provinces and cities across the country and in supermarkets such as Copmart, BigC, MM Mega Market in Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai Province.

In order for Nhon Trach District’s lotus products to keep growing in the coming period, Ms Le said she will invest about VND 1 billion in a new processing and packaging production line and organic lotus cultivation model, linked with the development of eco-tourism.

“We are expanding the area of ​​organic lotus cultivation combined with eco-tourism with an initial area of ​​about 20 ha. With this model, visitors can go to Nhon Trach to see and experience the clean lotus cultivation process, harvesting and processing here. This will contribute to the promotion and building of consumers’ trust with Truong Phat organic lotus field products in particular and garden tourism of Dong Nai province in general,” said Ms. Le proudly.