We are sprinting to launch high-end products from lemon peel as a gift to the 14th Party Congress," Mr. Le Van Nam happily shared with pride.
According to Mr. Nam, after linking with the research group of Dong Thap Community College and the Central Farmers' Association, the Cooperative conducted research to take advantage of lemon peel residue from the processing process of concentrated honey lemon juice product, to produce many high-end products. The product does not use chemicals but also provides many good features for consumer health and safety for the environment.
The first step is to apply lemon crust cooling technology to produce lemon soap" - Mr. Nam said about the circular economic chain - "In this process, continue to use ultrasonic waves to separate essential oils to process insect repellent solutions and continue to use the remaining residue to make organic fertilizers". Each stage for each product also has more mixing secrets, but all have in common that it brings the cooperative a double efficiency: both finding environmentally friendly solutions for by-products and providing lemon trees with soil improvement fertilizer according to the circular process, contributing to protecting farmers' health and the garden ecosystem.
According to Mr. Nam, lemon soap, after the initial trial period of being put on the market, has been highly appreciated by consumers, showing that it has gone in the right direction. Currently, the Cooperative is promoting the completion of the dossier for recognition of OCOP products to officially launch them on the market during Tet. In particular, 2 lemon essential oil and organic fertilizer products from lemon residue have produced products that meet the set requirements, and are accelerating procedures to import machinery to produce on a commercial scale.
It can be said that the 14th Party Congress was like an order for the Cooperative to accelerate the completion of the circular production process that was started earlier. The story began in 2023, when seeing that many lemon products after being exported to the European market (Netherlands) did not bring high economic efficiency due to only dependence on the supermarket and traditional market systems, Mr. Le Van Nam and some members sat down together to find new development directions.
Through the application of technology from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, the Cooperative joined hands to extract and concentrate lemon juice and then mix it with honey to create a completely new product: Condensed honey lemon juice. After the launch period, the product was welcomed by consumers and achieved many international certifications (HACCP, ISO) and domestic certifications (OCOP 4-star).
Currently, the Cooperative averages more than 2,500 bottles of concentrated honey lemon juice per day, helping to increase the value of seedless lemons by 4-5 times compared to selling fresh. From a by-product volume of about 40 tons/year, at the end of 2024, the Cooperative invested in exploiting by-products into genuine products with 3 products: Lemon soap, organic fertilizer and lemon essential oil, gradually completing the circular economic model, towards green agriculture.
