The story of a woman who built the Lien Minh tea brand

The majority of members of the Lien Minh Safe Agricultural Products Cooperative are ethnic minority women.

Lien Minh Commune has a long tradition of growing and processing tea. However, despite the efforts of local people, income from tea is unstable due to small-scale production, old farming methods and lack of brand.

Having been involved in the tea industry for a long time, Ms. Hai understands the difficulties that local people face. She worries: Tea makers work hard, productivity is low, and they mainly sell raw products, so the price is cheap. Therefore, if tea products want to have a "standing", it is necessary to build a methodical and professional production process from planting, caring, processing, packaging, preserving and promoting. To have a stable raw material area, she mobilized and gathered tea growers to establish a cooperative.

In 2019, the Lien Minh Safe Agricultural Products Cooperative was established with 20 members, with Ms. Hoang Thi Hai as Director. In order for the Cooperative to operate according to its original goals, she analyzed the benefits of safe tea production for the people; actively "asked" for programs and projects to support seeds and fertilizers for the people; coordinated with specialized units to organize training on tea growing techniques for members; signed contracts with members to comply with the Cooperative's production process...

She emphasizes the green production model, associated with environmental protection, minimizing chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and encouraging the use of biological products to care for tea plants. She supports people from the smallest things, such as instructing members to dry tea on nets instead of spreading it directly on the ground as before...

Tea products of Lien Minh Safe Agricultural Products Cooperative are designed with luxurious and beautiful packaging.

In addition, she also designs packaging, models, and labels to create a unique set of receipts; actively promotes and introduces the unit's products at fairs in and outside the province, on information pages, social networks, and seeks output...

The cooperative's tea products are processed and packaged using new technology lines, synchronous machinery, and a closed factory of 250m2, ensuring food hygiene and safety.

After one year of establishment, members of the cooperative have changed their farming habits together, ensuring consistent quality and increasing product value. Households are instructed to cultivate according to VietGAP standards, gradually moving towards organic production. Thanks to that, the price of tea has increased from over 100,000 VND/kg to 2-3 times.

Seeing the obvious benefits, more and more households have applied to join the cooperative. To date, the Lien Minh Safe Agricultural Products Cooperative has 50 official members and 30 associated households. The cooperative not only helps stabilize product output but also helps members (mainly women and ethnic minorities) access science and technology, preferential capital, create jobs and increase income.

Thanks to Ms. Hai’s perseverance and dedication, the Lien Minh tea brand is increasingly affirmed in the market. Currently, the cooperative has a raw material area of ​​50 hectares of VietGAP tea, producing 3 main product lines: hook tea, Lien Minh shrimp tea and Lien Minh tea.

All products have traceability stamps, are beautifully designed and printed, introduced and consumed on e-commerce platforms and appear in many large supermarkets across the country.

Each year, the cooperative sells over 30 tons of dried tea buds, with revenue reaching over 8 billion VND. Of which, 60% is sold according to orders, packaged at prices ranging from 250,000 to 1 million VND/kg, depending on the product.

Along with tea plants, Ms. Hai and her colleagues have found a completely new direction locally, which is papaya flower tea - a potential medicinal product.

She shared: After many training courses, I know that the trend of consuming and taking care of health with herbs is increasing. Especially the processing of folk remedies from male papaya flowers has been used by the Dao, Tay, and Muong people for a long time.

Growing papaya flowers to make tea - a new medicinal product with development potential in Lien Minh commune (Vo Nhai).

Therefore, she and her members planted nearly 3 hectares of papaya trees, which were cared for according to organic standards. After many months of research and testing, by the end of 2020, the cooperative had successfully produced male papaya flower tea with a gentle aroma and refreshing taste.

The product was quickly accepted by consumers, available in neighboring provinces and the capital Hanoi with a retail price of 3.5-5 million VND/kg. Green tea and male papaya flower tea products are certified to achieve 3-star OCOP in 2023 and 2024.

Lien Minh hook tea in particular has been certified as a typical rural industrial product and a typical agricultural product of Thai Nguyen province.

Ms. Vu Thi Tinh, Vice Chairwoman of Lien Minh Commune People's Committee, shared: In 2022, Ms. Hai was honored as a model farmer in the production and business of salad at the provincial level. Not only helping people get rich from tea trees, the cooperative model also contributes to changing production thinking, creating motivation for people to confidently stick with the profession. Ms. Hai's start-up story has motivated many ethnic minority women to boldly do business and escape poverty sustainably.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/xa-hoi/202504/chuyen-nguoi-phu-nu-xay-dung-thuong-hieu-che-lien-minh-c520180/