IPOH, Jan 12 — Before sinking your teeth into a delicious stir-fried lotus root dish to ring in the Year of the Rooster, spare a thought for the hardworking farmers who helped put the food on your plate.
While other farmers gather crops from fields and plantations, which is no easy feat, lotus farmers may have an even harder time as the aquatic plant mainly grows in murky pond waters.
To get the crunchy delicacy on your plate, a farmer like Lau Kim Sang, 75, spends anywhere between three and four hours waist-deep in a pond under the morning sun.
“We begin at about 6am and finish close to 10am, so we can transport the lotus root to the wholesale markets before they close at noon,” said Lau at his 2ha farm in Chemor here.
“It takes a toll on your hands and back because you are bending and pulling the vegetables out from the bed of the pond. The leeches aren’t fun either.
“But I’ve been doing this for about 40 years and I am used to it.”
Farmers like Lau wade through the muddy ponds, searching with their hands for the white lotus roots before pulling them out of the soil.
Generally, there are seven harvesting periods every two years for the lotus, which is believed to have originated from India.
The vegetable is part of the Chinese New Year culinary tradition as it symbolises the strong bonds of family ties.
The demand for lotus vegetables is known to spike dramatically ahead of Chinese New Year. Stir-fried lotus and lotus root soup are among the dishes served during Chinese New Year reunion dinners.
“Before Chinese New Year, the price is about RM8, but it can drop to RM2 or RM4 after the celebration because the demand goes down,” said Lau, who also plants corn and chilli.
However, he said this year’s prices were largely affected by the rainy weather in November and December.
“Production in my farm went down by about 1,000kg for this latest harvest, and the prices had to be increased,” he said.
In a neighbouring farm, worker Phoon Ah Gui, 63, estimated production had gone down by about 50 per cent.
“The plants grow in muddy water, but they still need sunlight, and there was too much rain before this,” he said.
“In this farm, we can get about 10,000 kg of lotus during a 10-day harvesting period. However, the numbers were much lower because of the rain.”
Despite the occasional production dips, Lau believes the preference for traditional lotus dishes will keep the demand high.
“This food is a traditional staple for the Chinese community, and I think the demand will continue,” he said, gathering another root from the pond.
“It’s hard work, but hopefully, we will be able to continue to make ends meet by planting lotus.”
