TRA VINH – While trying to rescue the coconut “falling price” case, Chal Thi discovered that it was possible to extract nectar from coconut flowers. This new job brings her and her husband more than 400 million per month.
In the last days of October, when the weather was mild, Ms. Thach Thi Chal Thi led the delegation to visit a specialized coconut farm to exploit her nectar. A group of workers, wearing white oval pots, quickly climbed to the top of the coconut tree. When they arrived, they cut one end with a sharp knife, rubbed the hot flower with their hands and tapped the body lightly, lines of white coconut nectar gushed out.
“A flower for 12 hours to collect nectar once, about half a liter. In 25 consecutive days, it will be 25 liters and then rest,” said Chal Thi, 31 years old, the first person who knew how to “suck coconut nectar” of Tra Vinh province – introduced in the surprise of the guests. “Two years ago, I was like everyone who did not believe that coconut trees can give nectar. Everything just happened by chance when I tried to rescue the family’s coconut garden that sold fruit over a hole.”
At the beginning of 2018, when she just got a master’s degree in food technology at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, this girl returned to Tra Vinh after a call from her father: “Coconut prices fell too much, 12 fruits only sold 20,000 VND. This year the hole is big, “he said, shaking his voice. Before getting in the car, she texted her husband: “Go home first and see what can be done. I’ll be back.” At this time, her husband – Pham Dinh Ngai – is a lecturer at a college in Ho Chi Minh City.
Chal Thi House planted more than 700 coconuts on an area of 20,000 square meters. That year the price of coconut kept decreasing. Mr. Thach May – Chal Thi’s father – ran everywhere, calling traders to buy coconuts, but they did not bother to come. The whole family could not sleep at night because the fruit fell under the ground. Unfortunately, they scrape coconut rice sold to ice cream shops to salvage. The rest had to leave, to grow seedlings for a long time, floating on the canals around the garden.
Unable to watch her parents fall, Chal Thi scoured for opportunities on the forums. Once she stumbled upon a picture of sugar made from coconut honey in Thailand, she clicked: “Coconut nectar is sweet, the sugar index is lower than honey, cane sugar but has high mineral content, is rich vitamins and most essential amino acids. Coconut nectar is suitable for people with type 2 diabetes “. Accompanied by a series of information on how to get coconut nectar made this girl awaken.
But just listening to his daughter’s presentation, Mr. Thach May scolded: “Coconut trees that people love to die but cut flowers, are you crazy?”. Chal Thi showed documentaries about coconut nectar collecting activities in some Asian countries for her father. “I just want to pilot 100 trees only. Rotate 50 trees to get honey, 50 trees to rest”, she pleaded. After a month, the father also nodded.
The very next day, the father and son went upstairs to cut the coconut flowers looking for honey. But during the next six months, hundreds of flowers were cut off, but nothing was recovered. Neighbors came over to find it strange, telling him that this family was crazy.
Recalling those early days, Mr. Thach May said: “At that time, I only knew how to encourage my children to try. Farmers here were sincere and afraid to change. With the product, people could understand”.
Failure, Chal Thi again tinkered on the Internet to find out more. It turns out, she had skipped an important step of using her hand to heat the coconut flower, then using just the right amount of force to knock on the flower, the nectar would flow. After studying, in the seventh month, Chal Thi and his father collected the first half liter of nectar.
With 50 new trees harvested half a liter, Chal Thi was disappointed but could not find the cause. Once by chance, she heard the village elders talk. In the old days, the nutritious plants would crack the fruit, and the nectar had to be absorbed in order to make the fruit grow and beautiful again. The idle story caught the girl’s attention. From the experience of a master in food technology, she immediately understood the reason why flowers give little nectar are lack of water and nutrition.
With 100 experimental coconut trees, Chal Thi buys a pump to pump water directly into the base – something no one does for longtime coconut growers. Next, purchased 1,000 more bags of cow manure. After 3 months, the amount collected is 25 liters, instead of just half a liter as before.
The amount of honey increased, this female engineer began to concentrate to produce finished products. For six consecutive months, Chal Thi worked continuously from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. Hundreds of failed batches had to be dumped. In the end, 100% pure concentrated coconut nectar with no preservatives was released. When she had the recipe in hand, she registered the brand and called her husband from Ho Chi Minh City to open a factory.
From the accumulated money for many years, borrowing more banks and relatives, the first factory was established in mid-2019. On the inauguration day, they only had enough money to hire a worker, the couple both produced and concurrently. marketing. The first month, the whole factory produced 1,000 bottles of 250g coconut nectar, most of which went to donate. The market is narrow, the buyers are mostly curious, in the first half year, the couple lost 200 million.
“It was hard but still lost, sometimes I wanted to give up, but Thi encouraged the most difficult time to pass, there is no reason to let go”, Mr. Pham Dinh Ngai shared.
After 7 months of operation, old customers started to come back, new customers who were vegetarians, diabetics … also gradually increased. From one worker, the couple recruits and trains 17 more people, earning an average of 5-7 million VND per month. Many households who previously objected also cooperated to sell nectar for the workshop.
Currently, the production capacity per month of the factory is 6,000 bottles. From coconut nectar, Chal Thi also researched and produced 4 other products such as coconut flower sugar, coconut nectar cocoa bean, coconut nectar pineapple jam … Not only sold in Vietnam, but also sold. on international e-commerce site, to Vietnamese in America. In addition to production and processing, the couple also opened a sightseeing area and experienced coconut nectar collection in the garden for tourists. The monthly revenue from this couple’s coconut garden is about 500 million VND.
Ms. Dinh Thi Dung, Standing Member of the Women’s Union of Tieu Can district, who has helped Chal Thi since starting a business, said this model made a strong impression on many foreign tour groups. “In 2019, Chal Thi won the first prize for a startup woman in Tra Vinh province from this unique idea”, said Ms. Dung.
Ten years ago, Chal Thi once told her husband her 40-year-old dream to return to her hometown when she had economic conditions, because she did not like the bustle of the city. “I did not wait until the age of 40 to fulfill my dream, because if I do not take the opportunity right in a crisis, I will not be able to do so many things,” she said.
vnexpress