(DTO) More than a decade after designating lotus as one of many key sectors underneath its Agricultural Restructuring Plan, Dong Thap has constructed a comparatively full growth ecosystem, with a rising variety of companies, cooperatives, and branded merchandise. However, for lotus to change into a really aggressive financial sector, the precedence is now not increasing cultivation areas or rising output. Instead, the main target should shift towards creating high-quality uncooked materials zones, selling deep processing, making use of science and expertise, and constructing a contemporary, sustainable lotus-based financial system.
FROM AN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT TO A LOTUS ECONOMY
Few crops in Dong Thap carry each financial worth and such deep cultural significance because the lotus.
Beyond its function in each day life, the lotus has change into the enduring image of the Pink Lotus Land and one of many province’s precedence sectors for funding underneath its agricultural restructuring technique.
After years of growth, the lotus trade has attracted an rising variety of companies from each inside and out of doors the province to spend money on processing, diversify merchandise, and construct robust manufacturers.
From conventional merchandise, Dong Thap’s lotus trade now affords greater than 100 merchandise for the market. Many have earned OCOP certification, step by step strengthening their place within the home market.
Despite these achievements, important bottlenecks stay.
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In the approaching years, the agriculture sector will concentrate on 4 key priorities: creating high-quality, inexperienced uncooked materials zones with traceability and steady market linkages; selling deep processing linked to round financial system fashions to create larger worth from each lotus plant; integrating lotus with cultural and experiential tourism to generate further livelihoods for native communities; increasing the trade’s digital presence by means of traceability knowledge, e-commerce, and technology-driven storytelling to attain each home and worldwide markets. Mr. LE CHI THIEN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF DONG THAP DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT |
According to Mr. Le Chi Thien, Deputy Director of the Dong Thap Department of Agriculture and Environment, the province’s lotus trade has already established a reasonably full worth chain and growth ecosystem after years of agricultural restructuring.
What continues to be missing is stronger integration amongst uncooked materials producers, processing enterprises, markets, and customers.
The best problem right now shouldn’t be a scarcity of companies or merchandise, however the institution of well-organized, high-quality lotus-growing areas able to offering steady, adequate uncooked supplies for deep processing.
Mr. Le Chi Thien stated the agriculture sector is advising the Provincial People’s Committee to develop managed lotus manufacturing zones involving farmers, cooperatives, companies, and scientists. These areas will observe high quality requirements, guarantee product traceability, and align manufacturing carefully with the wants of processing enterprises.
This would be the important basis for Dong Thap to transfer past creating a single agricultural commodity towards constructing a complete lotus financial ecosystem.
DEEP PROCESSING – THE KEY TO HIGHER VALUE
If uncooked materials areas are the muse, deep processing is the driving pressure behind creating larger worth from lotus. According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Chon of the Institute of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Can Tho University, the lotus nonetheless has monumental untapped potential thanks to its distinctive dietary and medicinal properties.
Virtually each a part of the lotus plant can function uncooked materials for the meals, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and well being care industries when supported by applicable preservation and processing applied sciences.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Chon famous that trendy applied sciences equivalent to chilly drying, freeze-drying, and chilly storage not solely prolong shelf life but additionally protect bioactive compounds and dietary worth. These applied sciences open the door to a variety of value-added merchandise as an alternative of relying solely on raw-material gross sales.
This perspective aligns carefully with that of lotus-processing companies. Vo Duc The, a consultant of Lotus Healthy Food Co., Ltd., stated the corporate focuses on maximizing the worth of each lotus ingredient moderately than competing on uncooked materials costs.
From contemporary lotus seeds alone, the corporate has developed a various product vary, together with dried lotus seeds, frozen lotus seeds, canned lotus seeds, and lotus seed powder, supported by 4 processing traces: drying, freezing, sterilization, and powder manufacturing.
According to Lotus Healthy Food, when a single uncooked materials will be remodeled into eight to ten completely different merchandise, financial returns improve considerably whereas manufacturing waste is saved to a minimal.
“The future of Vietnam’s lotus industry lies not in selling raw materials, but in building strong brands for deeply processed products,” the corporate consultant stated.
To obtain this, the corporate should spend money on analysis and growth (R&D), advertising, distribution networks, and steady innovation to create merchandise that meet evolving shopper demand.
At the identical time, the corporate acknowledged that participation in international provide chains requires greater than superior processing expertise. Businesses should additionally meet more and more stringent necessities for product traceability, authorized documentation, meals security requirements, and the standard of uncooked materials zones.
While these necessities current challenges, in addition they provide Dong Thap’s lotus trade a possibility to transfer past exporting uncooked supplies and towards constructing nationally acknowledged manufacturers for value-added lotus merchandise.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY – THE FOUNDATION OF A SUSTAINABLE LOTUS ECOSYSTEM
For deep processing to attain its full potential, science and expertise should prolong past manufacturing methods to embrace high quality administration, product traceability, and model growth.
According to Mr. Phan Trong Tuong, Deputy Director of the Dong Thap Department of Science and Technology, acquiring Geographical Indication standing for Dong Thap’s lotus-based merchandise shouldn’t be solely about defending mental property rights but additionally about laying the muse for reorganizing manufacturing, standardizing high quality, constructing a collective model, and creating a lotus financial ecosystem.
This marks an necessary step in shifting the lotus trade from progress pushed by manufacturing quantity to one constructed on worth addition, information, and native identification.
Deputy Director Mr. Phan Trong Tuong stated that within the coming years, the province will proceed enhancing its Geographical Indication administration system by means of digitalization by creating an built-in database containing info on cultivation areas, planting space codes, product traceability, manufacturing volumes, and high quality, whereas step by step introducing synthetic intelligence into administration.
At the identical time, efforts will concentrate on increasing VietGAP-certified and natural rising areas, strengthening mental property safety, creating OCOP-certified merchandise linked to the Geographical Indication, and integrating manufacturing with agricultural tourism, the artistic financial system, and worldwide commerce promotion.
Dong Thap’s lotus trade is clearly getting into a brand new stage of growth. While the sooner purpose was to construct an agricultural sector, the problem now could be to create a lotus financial ecosystem, the place farmers, cooperatives, companies, scientists, and authorities businesses work collectively to construct an entire worth chain.
With well-organized uncooked materials zones, larger funding in processing expertise, stronger mental property safety, and the widespread adoption of digital applied sciences, Dong Thap’s lotus will change into greater than a logo of the province. It will stand as a logo of a inexperienced, progressive, and sustainable financial system.
And when individuals consider the lotus, they may keep in mind not solely a stupendous flower but additionally Dong Thap, the place pure assets are remodeled into financial worth by means of information, science, expertise, and the ambition to attain additional.
By MY LY
Translated by ANH DUC