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July is a busy month for many farmers of Duy Tien town, Ha Nam province as it’s time to harvest lotus seeds.
Chuyen Ngoai commune has about 20 lotus growing households with up to 5 ha each. The harvesting of lotus seeds lasts for about 3 months, from the fifth to the seventh lunar month. The work starts early in the morning at about 5 am to avoid the heat.
On average, each household can pocket up to hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dongs from selling lotus seeds, 7 times higher than growing rice.
The raw, unpeeled lotus seeds are usually bought by traders from Hanoi and neighbouring provinces.
Mostly sold in dried, shelled form, lotus seeds contain rich contents of protein, B vitamins, and dietary minerals. The seeds are often used as food for cooking or in traditional medicine. That’s the reason why farmers do not use herbicide while growing lotus in order to harvest the best seeds to consumers./.
