Farmers under Vinh Tan tea cultivation village collect tea. (Photo by Cao Huy)

Vinh Tan tea village in Tan Trao commune is the first recognised tea production and processing village in the province. The village has 180.2 hectares of tea farming area with 100 households growing and processing tea. Over the last five years since its establishment, the village now operates stably, generating a high income. With the advantages in soil and climate, combined with many years of experience in tea farming and rapid approach and deployment of scientific and technological advances in planting and processing tea by local farmers, the village’s tea products have affirmed their reputation. Tea products from the village won a bronze trophy at the Thai Nguyen Tea Festival in 2015. Thanks to the brand building by the village, the Vinh Tan tea products have always kept their price at a high value, ranging from VND150,000 to VND230,000 per kg, depending on each type of tea, generating an average income at over VND45 million per person per year for local farmers. Mr. Pham Van Ran, from Vinh Tan village, said his family have more than 30 years of earning their living from tea, with intensive farming on 1.1 hectares of tea. During the bumping season, every month, Ran’s family can collect up to 2 tonnes of fresh tea to process about 400 kg of dry tea. On average, each year his family collects over 2 tonnes of dry tea, generating surplus at nearly VND150 million. Since then, Ran’s family has been able to afford to build a new house and pay for his children’s studies.

The Cay tea production and processing village in Minh Thanh commune (Son Duong district) was recognised as a local tea farming village in 2018. The village has 100 out of 115 households earning their living from tea, and many of them have become rich from this crop, like the models by Mr. Do Van Cang, Nguyen Van Hoa, Pham Van Minh and Nguyen Van Thuy. According to Mr. Duong Ngoc Chiem, Head of Cay Village, since being recognised as a tea farming village, the local households in the village have become more motivated. In order to improve the product quality, local tea farmers have turned their farming model into clean and safe tea produce under recognised standards. The village has established a group of tea farming households to grow and produce tea under the VietGAP standards with an area of ​​10 hectares, attracting the participation of 10 households. Until now, after two years of recognition of clean tea according to VietGAP standards, the price of local tea has increased from VND80,000-120,000 per kg to VND150,000-200,000 a kg. In the near future, the village will establish a cooperative model to share production experience and find stable output for its tea products.

Mr. Pham Huu Tan, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son Duong district, said that, in order for the local tea villages to develop sustainably, the district has created favourable conditions to support the newly-established villages in fulfilling the related procedures for registering trademarks and forming production groups and cooperatives to be eligible for loans and brand promotion, as well as building safe tea cultivation areas with linkage between production and consumption. The district has also integrated local capital sources into programmes and projects investing in machinery and equipment, as well as improving tea varieties and organising training courses for local farming households to approach techniques for planting and processing tea with higher quality, thus ensuring the expansion of consumer markets, increasing the value of local tea products, and constantly improving the lives of tea farmers.