The Fragrance of Lotus Calling the Season

Amid the early days of summer, the lotus marsh developed by the Viet Duc Agricultural Cooperative at Ward 4, Song Lo, Thanh Mieu Ward, enters its most beautiful season. A gentle lotus fragrance drifts through the morning breeze as the water’s surface is blanketed in a vibrant green of leaves, punctuated by blossoming lotus flowers. Far beyond a conventional cultivation area, this marsh is gradually transforming into a multi-value agricultural economic model.

The lotus marsh of the Viet Duc Agricultural Cooperative at Ward 4, Song Lo, Thanh Mieu Ward.

From an initial small-scale lotus pond model, following three years of persistent investments, the facility officially evolved into a cooperative in 2025 to professionalize its manufacturing and commercial operations. The Viet Duc Agricultural Cooperative currently cultivates approximately 1 hectare of lotus, predominantly featuring the Avalokiteshvara variant with both white and red lines. Since the entire breeding stock was imported from the Southern region, the cooperative had to spend over a year domesticating the strain to stabilize the cultivation zone as it stands today.

Local farmers harvesting lotus flowers in the early morning.

The cooperative has invested nearly 1 billion VND to rehabilitate the marshlands, erect eco-landscapes, purchase breeding stocks, construct a primary processing facility, and finalize the production workflow. As a result, in 2025, the unit generated a revenue of approximately 400 million VND. While the figure remains modest, it marks a vital milestone proving the correct direction of a high-value agricultural model.

Cooperative members packaging and vacuum-sealing lotus leaf tea products.

The definitive hallmark of the Viet Duc Agricultural Cooperative lies in its deep-processing mindset. Instead of merely selling fresh, seasonal flowers, the cooperative focuses heavily on commercializing three primary product lines: lotus leaf tea, lotus flower tea, and lotus blossom tea.

Lotus flowers infused with tea, prepared to enter the freeze-drying chamber.

Once harvested, the lotus leaves undergo primary processing, dehydrating, and packaging under a proprietary workflow to preserve their natural aroma. According to Mr. Le Duc Viet — Deputy Director of the Cooperative — lotus leaf tea is highly favored by health-conscious consumers for its attributes in supporting sleep and body detoxification. Meanwhile, the lotus blossom tea — the cooperative’s flagship product — successfully secured a 3-star OCOP certification in December 2025. To finalize the legal dossiers, register trademarks, design labels, and formally publish product standards, the cooperative dedicated nearly a year of intensive preparation.

Viet Duc lotus-blossom tea — a certified 3-star OCOP product.

Every crop season, the cooperative manufactures roughly 14,000 packages of lotus leaf tea and over 10,000 lotus blossom tea units. These robust indicators demonstrate that the lotus plant is no longer constrained by seasonality but has successfully transitioned into a value chain capable of generating long-term sustainable returns.

Youths alongside production crews shooting artistic photo collections with the lotuses.

Stretching beyond raw manufacturing, the cooperative has proactively integrated experiential ecotourism services directly within the marsh. Every blooming season, the destination magnetically welcomes youths, families, and photography groups arriving to sightsee and take photos. With an admission fee of approximately 50,000 VND per person, guests can tour and check-in at the marsh. The cooperative also partners with local photographers to deliver all-inclusive service packages, including makeup, costume rentals, and flycam videography.

Cooperative members meticulously infusing tea into lotus flowers.

Remarkably, the tourism approach here exhibits a highly pronounced community-based spirit. Frequent repeat visitors are granted free admission to encourage them to act as natural brand advocates for the cooperative. Lotus photographs shared across social networks transform into organic marketing channels, helping the Viet Duc brand seamlessly acquire new clienteles.

Mr. Le Duc Viet (left) — Deputy Director of the Cooperative — sharing the story of the lotuses and their upcoming strategic direction.

Currently, the cooperative maintains 12 official members working as regular laborers, backed by a base salary of approximately 6 million VND per month. Beyond their fixed income, workers enjoy commissions tied to sales volumes. This inclusive management mechanism ensures that each member is not a mere hired hand but an active stakeholder co-developing the brand. From processing tea and guiding visitors to digital promotion, the local farmers are highly motivated to commit long-term.

The two distinct white and red variants of the Avalokiteshvara lotus.

Succeeding in agribusiness is never a story of "making profits in a single season." Deputy Director Le Duc Viet shared that breeding stock costs alone required hundreds of millions of VND. Concurrently, prolonged administrative timelines for legal compliance delayed product commercialization compared to original plans. Climate risks, crop pests, and market demand fluctuations remain permanent challenges. However, instead of retreating to a small-scale, fragmented posture, the cooperative continues to pave new frontiers.

In the upcoming phase, Viet Duc plans to aggressively amplify its media presence via professional photo collections and promotional videos, while relaunching its digital storefronts across e-commerce platforms to scale up market distribution.

In tandem with the lotus plant, the cooperative is coordinating with corporate partners to test-cultivate a Queen Ginseng model across an area of over 3 hectares leased from local landholders. This pivot vividly illustrates a diversified growth strategy, ensuring the business does not depend solely on a single crop line.

From a rustic little lotus pond, the Viet Duc Agricultural Cooperative is showcasing a modern approach to agriculture: moving away from selling raw materials toward deep processing, brand equity construction, and curating customer experiences. There, the lotus does not merely radiate fragrance over the waters; it infuses into every tea package, every artistic photograph, and every job generated for local laborers, weaving a compelling narrative about the structural transformation of the agricultural economy.

Amidst today’s rural vitalization, models like Viet Duc are charting a highly remarkable roadmap. It is the art of practicing agriculture using a market-oriented mindset, maximizing indigenous values, and anchoring people to their homeland with sustainable, green livelihood models.

Ngoc Tuan