'Awakening' barren tea-growing regions through digital transformation.

Phu Tho, formerly a poor hamlet in Phu Do commune, Phu Luong district, now part of Vo Tranh commune, has over 90% of its population belonging to ethnic minorities. For generations, tea plants have persistently taken root and flourished amidst hardship. In recent years, this impoverished tea-growing region has been "awakened" by the story of digital transformation written with the passion of a native son: Mr. Hoang Van Tuan, Chairman of the Phu Do Safe Tea Cooperative.

Mr. Hoang Van Tuan (second from the right).

Born in 1993 in the impoverished hilly region of Phu Tho, Hoang Van Tuan was familiar from a young age with the sight of people tending to their tea plantations from dawn till dusk, caring for each plant as if it were their own lifeblood. He also witnessed the hardships and struggles of tea growers: the soil becoming barren due to the long-term overuse of chemical fertilizers, the land becoming compacted and causing tea plants to grow slowly, making it difficult to sell the produce at a good price... This concern stayed with him while he studied at the University of Science (Thai Nguyen University).

On the day he received his Master's degree in Resource and Environmental Management, job opportunities opened up, but instead of staying in the bustling city, Hoang Van Tuan chose to return to his hometown with the belief that the knowledge he had accumulated would contribute to the development of his birthplace, and that if he wanted his hometown's tea products to reach the market, they had to improve their quality.

After returning to his hometown, the first thing he did was to revitalize the land. He sought out familiar materials from the mountainous region: charcoal, buffalo dung, chicken manure, sawdust, earthworm castings… to compost into organic fertilizer for the tea plants. As a result, the tea plantations were revived, with greener shoots, thicker leaves, and a richer aroma.

After a period of experimentation, Mr. Tuan successfully persuaded six other members to establish the Phu Do Safe Tea Cooperative, attracting nearly 40 more households to participate in production. From the very beginning, he determined that digital transformation was the only way to help mountainous agriculture achieve a breakthrough.

A highlight of Mr. Tuan's journey in digitizing his tea plantation is the integration of the Facefarm electronic production log into the entire tea care process. This is a completely new approach for the local people. Under his persistent guidance, each person began learning how to take photos, record videos , and upload data to the system.

All stages, from fertilizing and watering to pest control and harvesting, are clearly documented with images; everything is digitized and transparent.

Mr. Hoang Van Tuan shared his insights on digital transformation in tea production with local youth union members.

For Mr. Tuan, digital transformation doesn't stop at production; he also wants to change the way tea growers access the market. The cooperative puts its products on an official website, opens a fan page, implements sales on e-commerce platforms, and simultaneously applies electronic timekeeping, automatic payroll calculation, and salary payments via bank accounts. Things that once seemed very unfamiliar to farmers have now become daily habits.

As a result, the production area increased to 27.2 hectares, including 5 hectares of organic tea and 5 hectares of ecological tea. The cooperative currently has 6 main product lines: bud tea, young tea leaves, pin tea, flower tea, leaf tea, and Artemisia tea, with prices ranging from 200,000 to 5 million VND per kilogram.

In 2024, the production of dried tea buds reached 32 tons – an impressive figure for a young cooperative in the mountainous region. Notably, Hoang Gia's young tea buds surpassed nearly 700 products worldwide to win a Bronze Medal at the Golden Leaf Awards in Australia.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/202511/danh-thuc-vung-che-can-bang-chuyen-doi-so-d2d7ad5/