<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Poverty alleviation, employment creation, environmental conservation and income augmentation can be transformed based on agricultural diversification. Lotus farming is considered as a solution to improve income and livelihood for smallholder farmers. Many different products and values can be explored from lotus farming including lotus flower, lotus root, lotus seed, lotus fiber, as well as combining ecotourism. But many barriers are preventing the lotus products diversification of lotus growers. This study will provide a better understanding of lotus farming and explore the barriers to lotus products diversification and causes of these barriers. Phong Dien district, central Vietnam was selected as a case study. The qualitative research was applied through 54 semi-structured interviews including lotus growers, lotus buyers and officers of local government, as well as one focus-group discussion, observation method and secondary data from statistical data and reports were also conducted. The research findings indicated that there is a big gap between lotus products diversification of lotus growers and available lotus products on the market. Lotus growers only grow and sell raw products, of which, fresh unshelled lotus seed is the main product. Lack of knowledge, worries on loss, lack of market and market information, lack of labour and machines and traditional production habits are main determinants of the barriers. Characteristics of lotus seed, high production and monopoly of collectors are different features in barriers to lotus product diversification compared to other crop diversification.</p>
</abstract>

Poverty alleviation, employment creation, environmental conservation and income augmentation can be transformed based on agricultural diversification. Lotus farming is considered as a solution to improve income and livelihood for smallholder farmers. Many different products and values can be explored from lotus farming including lotus flower, lotus root, lotus seed, lotus fiber, as well as combining ecotourism. But many barriers are preventing the lotus products diversification of lotus growers. This study will provide a better understanding of lotus farming and explore the barriers to lotus products diversification and causes of these barriers. Phong Dien district, central Vietnam was selected as a case study. The qualitative research was applied through 54 semi-structured interviews including lotus growers, lotus buyers and officers of local government, as well as one focus-group discussion, observation method and secondary data from statistical data and reports were also conducted. The research findings indicated that there is a big gap between lotus products diversification of lotus growers and available lotus products on the market. Lotus growers only grow and sell raw products, of which, fresh unshelled lotus seed is the main product. Lack of knowledge, worries on loss, lack of market and market information, lack of labour and machines and traditional production habits are main determinants of the barriers. Characteristics of lotus seed, high production and monopoly of collectors are different features in barriers to lotus product diversification compared to other crop diversification.

Barriers to agricultural products diversification: An empirical analysis from lotus farming in Central Vietnam

University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University

Rural Sustainability Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Poverty alleviation, employment creation, environmental conservation and income augmentation can be transformed based on agricultural diversification. Lotus...

Barriers to agricultural products diversification: An empirical analysis from lotus farming in Central Vietnam

Publié en ligne: 22 janv. 2024

Pages: 103 - 111

Reçu: 10 oct. 2022

Accepté: 11 déc. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2023-0020

Mots clés
barriers, diversification, lotus grower, lotus farming, Vietnam

© 2023 Chung Van Nguyen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Barriers to agricultural products diversification: An empirical analysis from lotus farming in Central Vietnam

Publié en ligne: 22 janv. 2024

Pages: 103 - 111

Reçu: 10 oct. 2022

Accepté: 11 déc. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2023-0020

Mots clésbarriers, diversification, lotus grower, lotus farming, Vietnam

© 2023 Chung Van Nguyen et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
barriers, diversification, lotus grower, lotus farming, Vietnam