These days, coming to the water hyacinth craft village in Vinh Hoa Hung commune, An Giang province is very bustling. Every household is busy receiving raw materials to weave products such as baskets, baskets, trays... to return to Thuan Phat water hyacinth weaving cooperative (HTX) to sell to companies.
Ms. Tran Thi Thu Ngan, Director of Thuan Phat handicraft cooperative, said: The cooperative officially has 10 members, unofficially about 250 sisters, doing processing at home. People come to receive raw materials and frames for processing, then the cooperative will arrange people to come to collect them. Items are ordered by the company with the cooperative, for example knitting in the style of fish bones, rice grains, apricot blossoms... depending on the order.
The cooperative pays the workers according to each product, depending on the size, on average each worker earns about 3 million VND/month, if anyone has a lot of time to weave, the wages will be higher.
Ms. Ngan said that with the knitting profession, people have additional monthly income and year-round jobs. The cooperative signed contracts with 4 companies in provinces to buy goods for export abroad, which have now been signed until June 2026.
The products sold can be in batches or individually, on average the cooperative sells about 350-400 million VND/month, which is about 20,000-30,000 products.
The Cooperative plans to open many weaving groups in 2026, and sign more contracts with large companies so that not only in the commune but also other communes can participate in weaving water hyacinth, expanding production," Ms. Ngan shared.
Especially during this Tet holiday, the Cooperative also has a program to give gifts to encourage women who are doing processing. Women who work from 3 million VND/month or more will be given gifts of necessities, both contributing joy and creating motivation for women to work harder. During Tet, there is also a price increase in the spirit-encouraging framework, orders also increase by about 30%. Women are very excited, income increases, so shopping for families preparing for Tet is also more prosperous and happier," Ms. Ngan added.
Not too in high demand or out of stock like other products, but weaving utensils from water hyacinth always have stable orders year-round, creating jobs and additional income for idle rural workers. In addition to taking care of their families and doing farm work, they can weave water hyacinth to increase income and improve their lives.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai, who has been knitting water hyacinth for 15 years, said: "The main income is that my husband works as a hired laborer, while I both take care of farming, taking care of children, and taking care of the house, then in my free time, I participate in knitting water hyacinth to earn extra income. I see that life has improved a lot, I have money for my children to go to school, buy more milk. The next Tet season, having this additional income, I will also be better off, contributing to the money for shopping.
According to the An Giang Provincial Women's Union, the Kien Giang Provincial People's Committee (old) recognized this place as a craft village, thereby creating favorable conditions for the cooperative to develop more. The cooperative is also funded by VNHELP (USA) to build warehouses, purchase equipment, and support raw material growing areas. Current capital is being managed and used for the right purpose by the cooperative.
Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial Women's Union Nguyen Thi Quyen said: "It can be said that the Cooperative has been and is operating effectively, cooperative members are excited and trust the Cooperative's Management Board, and feel secure in production. Since the beginning of the term, the Cooperative has helped 4 poor households escape poverty, 5 near-poor households have risen to the average level, and 15 households have risen from the average to quite good.
It's a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit.
