Growing lotus for rootstocks on hollow lands

Growing lotus for rootstocks is now favored by people in hollow lands, because of easy growing and quick harvest. This also brings higher profits than growing rice.Ms. Pham Thi Lam, who is 60 years old and lives at Rach Kien hamlet, Thanh Tuyen commune, Dau Tieng district, exploited her hollow land to raise lotus for rootstocks. She created a pond to grow lotus on an area of 2,000m2 in 2005. Ms. Lam said: “Lotus is easy to grow and take care, does not need many fertilizers, and can harvest rootstocks all year round. The muddier the land is, the more we can get rootstocks. Lotus can be harvested after one year. And yield in rainy seasons is lower than in sunny seasons”.Currently, Ms. Lam collects rootstocks every two days for 5 -10 kg each time with price of VND30,000 – 35,000 per kg. Monthly average revenue is about VND4mln, which is higher than rice and can help her to cover not only family’s daily expenditure but also her children’s school fees.Chairman of Thanh Tuyen commune Farmer Association Mr. Huynh Van Duong said: “Because of quick harvest, less capital and effort, easy output, growing lotus for rootstocks on hollow lands is now a suitable model for local farmers. Therefore, many farmers are switching to growing lotus. In addition, mango orchard, along with ecotourism, is also developed. Thereby, farmers can escape poverty, and make money on the hollow Thanh Tuyen land”.Reported by T. Ly, D. Tuan – Translated by Ngoc Huynh