From common water hyacinth to becoming handicraft products

Increase income for ethnic minorities

Hung Phuoc is a border commune of Bu Dop district (Binh Phuoc). With 40% of the population being ethnic minorities, their income is mainly based on shifting cultivation, so they basically do nothing else when the crop was over. But since the development of the water hyacinth knitting model, more jobs have been created, people's income has increased.

As the one who started the local hyacinth knitting profession, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nu, the head of Hung Phuoc water hyacinth knitting cooperative group, said that she always pondered over ethnic minorities working in the fields all year round without having enough to eat.

On a trip to the West, upon seeing people use the stem of water hyacinth for knitting, she did her research, learned how to do it, and found that the technique was simple, anyone could do it. Ms. Nu began to do outsourcing works and passed her knowledge to the local people.

According to Ms. Nu, a person can knit about 2-3 products/day on average, each product set can be sold at VND 70,000 depending on the model. This is not a large source of income, but it has significantly contributed to the livelihood of female laborers here, especially those of ethnic minorities.

Ms. Nong Thi Lan (Tay ethnicity), one of the active members of the cooperative group, said that her family used to be a poor household whose livelihood depended on 300 pillars of pepper.

In recent years, the price of pepper has decreased and the income was not worth much so she switched to peeling cashew nut shells to make ends meet. Even if she tried her best every day, she could only make more than 10kg, receiving a salary of VND 70,000.

Since coming to the cooperative group to learn the trade of water hyacinth knitting, now her income has increased VND 150-200 thousand every day. As a result, her family's life has become much better.

Expand the model

As shared by Mr. Nguyen Van Giang, Vice Chairman of Hung Phuoc Commune Farmers' Association, with the first wave from Ms. Nu’s cooperative group, women from the whole six hamlets have also pursued the profession. Even people in neighboring communes also came and asked for the goods to bring them home and work to improve income.

Although the income is relatively high compared to other professions, the locals mainly receive raw materials from companies for processing. Hung Phuoc Commune Farmers' Association is developing a plan to grow water hyacinth on the bed of Bu Tam lake to be proactive in terms of material source and proceed to establish a cooperative, making water hyacinth knitting a spearhead economy in the locality.

Mr. Nguyen Van Giang shared his opinion: “Currently, when the use of environmentally friendly products is gradually becoming a trend, handicraft products made from water hyacinth meet the requirement.

“Through surveys we have found that water hyacinth is easy to grow and does not require much care nor investment cost. Growers only need to spend little time in the initial stage and the harvest. Successful cultivation of water hyacinth will reduce transportation costs and increase the product value from VND 70,000/product to VND 100,000/product.

“This also creates a motivation for the association to encourage and accompany its members to expand the water hyacinth area in order to distribute materials and products to the market with the best quality.”

“In order to help water hyacinth knitting products as well as other handmade knitting products in the district be well known and acquire sustainable development, the district will support registration procedures for OCOP-standard water hyacinth knitting products, continue to promote trade and capital support from the National Target Program so that cooperative groups can invest in modern machinery and equipment, making products of the best quality.” Said Mr. Tran Van Thanh, Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Office of Bu Dop district.