The whole village is prosperous thanks to growing white flowers like clouds.

Growing white lilies is a profession that has been around for quite a long time in Kim Tan commune, Kim Son district (Ninh Binh). Nearly 20 years ago, lily growing began to take off in some households in the commune.

After many “experiments”, local people realized that growing lilies brings a stable income, so many households decided to stick with this profession for a long time. Currently, the whole Kim Tan commune has nearly 800 households growing white lilies on a total area of ​​over 80 hectares.

Lilies are purchased at prices ranging from 1,000-1,500 VND/flower. One sao of land growing white lilies can bring in a profit of 9 to 10 million VND per year.

The family of Ms. Tran Thi Hanh (35 years old) in hamlet 9, Kim Tan commune, Kim Son district is currently growing nearly 1 hectare (nearly 3,600m2) of lilies. Thanks to selling flowers, her family has an income of tens of millions of dong each month.

Ms. Hanh said that although growing white lilies requires a lot of effort, the profit is 3-4 times higher than growing rice. The planting time is from early February to March. After about 3 months of planting, the plants begin to flower and are harvested until after the Lunar New Year.

Thanks to growing this cloud-white flower, Ms. Hanh's family has an income of tens of millions of dong per month.

“Lilies are sold for between 1,000 and 1,500 VND per flower. The plant flowers the most in the 6th and 7th lunar months. This is the time when lilies provide the main income. With an area of ​​nearly one hectare, in just these two main months, my family earned more than 40 million VND from selling lilies,” Ms. Hanh revealed.

According to Ms. Hanh, in the fall, the lily plant begins to produce smaller and fewer flowers, but in return, the selling price of the flowers is higher. Although the income is not as high as in the main season, each month she still earns 3-5 million VND from selling flowers. Compared to growing other plants, the income from lilies is still many times higher.

Lily, also known as night-blooming lily or rain-blooming lily, is a flower that blooms at night and has the ability to emit a strong fragrance at night. The flower is mainly used for arrangements during worship, ceremonies, and New Year's Eve, so the market demand for this flower is very large.

Mr. Trinh Xuan Chien (62 years old) has more than 10 years of experience growing lilies. He said that without experience and knowledge, lilies can have stiff flowers, yellow flowers or pests, and their productivity will decrease sharply, and the quality of the flowers will be low, making them unsellable.

With many years of experience, his family can limit pathogens such as drying lily bulbs for a period of time, soaking lily bulbs in warm water before planting... Currently, Mr. Trinh Xuan Chien's lilies often have stable productivity, giving even and beautiful flowers.

“Unlike other flowers, lilies are easy to grow and require very little care but still bring in a relatively high income. Recently, the prices of many other flowers have fluctuated, but lilies have always remained stable, so the income of growers is also stable,” Mr. Chien shared.

Mr. Chien said that lilies are light-loving plants that bloom all year round. However, lilies bloom mainly in the summer, while in the winter they produce fewer, smaller, and shorter flowers. Currently, his family has more than 5 sao of land growing white lilies. Thanks to growing lilies and cutting flowers to sell, his family earns about 7 million VND per month.

Talking about the output of the product, Mr. Chien shared that lilies are used a lot in worshiping and during holidays, which is a consumption habit of Vietnamese people. Therefore, the demand for lilies is always stable. No matter how many traders come to the house to buy, there are often not enough flowers to sell.

Pham Anh