I felt like I was lost in a fairy tale world with the green tea hills that stretch as far as the eye can see, undulating in a spiral shape in Huong Son (Ha Tinh).
Huong Son tea trees are currently being grown extensively in many communes with more than 90 hectares.
Early winter, a little dry wind gently blowing across the tea fields brings me back to old memories.
Recalling the day of "founding mountains and breaking rocks", on September 11, 1959, young men and women from many rural areas came here to start a business, 64 years ago. Their images were carved on the trees, printed on the leaves over the course of time. Tay Son tea trees did not disappoint those who opened the land and sowed the first seeds. During the subsidy period, Tay Son Tea Farm (Son Kim 2 commune, Huong Son) operated on a small scale, although it had abundant human resources, it lacked machinery to serve the reclamation of wasteland, and when harvesting, it lacked machinery to process raw materials. During the war, bombs and bullets fell, and workers still stayed on the tea hills two shifts a day. After the country was unified, the economic situation of the whole country was difficult, the reclaimed area was small, the output was low, and the quality of tea was not high.
Tay Son Tea Farm's pilot implementation of "tree garden contracting" is a "breakthrough" to promote human capacity and land potential.
In 1986, Tay Son Tea Farm implemented an autonomous mechanism, contracting the final products to workers, the output of fresh tea buds gradually increased according to the productivity chart. The output of fresh tea buds harvested in 1987 reached 712 tons, an increase of more than 200 tons compared to 1975. However, in 1990-1992, due to lack of capital, lack of materials, lack of high-tech processing machinery and equipment, unstable market output, and unstable prices, the tea output at this time "plummeted" to 210 tons, making consumption very difficult. Many families planned to demolish the tea-growing land to plant other crops instead.
Faced with that situation, Tay Son Tea Farm piloted “tree garden contracting” which is essentially “tea garden selling”, giving autonomy to workers. This is a “breakthrough” to promote human capacity and land potential.
A new opportunity was promoted when in 1992, the State opened the direction of economic development in the hilly areas by Decision 327-CT of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers on a number of policies and guidelines for the use of vacant land and bare hills. On the other hand, the State boldly reformed existing tea production and business enterprises, streamlined the apparatus and management methods. At this time, Tay Son Tea Farm was renamed Tay Son Tea Enterprise. All production and business activities were under the management of Ha Tinh Tea Investment and Development Company. Tea prices were adjusted, the output was guaranteed by the company, creating a boost for families to feel secure in production. From 1997-2002, the unit planted nearly 48 hectares of tea, produced 2,433 tons of fresh tea buds, and processed more than 446 tons of finished tea products.
After equitization, to combine production and business responsibilities, Ha Tinh Tea Investment and Development Company developed raw material areas, innovated technology, and sought markets. Tay Son Tea Enterprise focused on tea cultivation, innovated machinery and equipment to improve product quality.
The joy of Huong Son tea growers.
During this field trip, I had the opportunity to meet again with Mr. Nguyen Hong Sanh - Director of Tay Son Tea Enterprise. Mr. Sanh affirmed: “Tay Son tea has created a position in the market today through a historical process, through the transfer of many generations. That upward movement is thanks to the unit knowing how to skillfully apply policy mechanisms into practice. Especially in the 10 years of innovation (2010-2019), the unit has linked up with farmers in the communes of Son Kim, Son Tay, Son Lam to expand the raw material area. Thanks to this connection, the tea growing area has expanded by more than 90 hectares - a record number”. Of course, when the tea growing area is "joined in a big circle", the output and income of tea growers also increase. From that "milestone", Tay Son Tea Enterprise focuses on investing in intensive farming, improving output and quality in the direction of safe tea production. Safe tea production according to VietGap standards, moving towards achieving international standards (RA) to ensure sustainable tea production.
Being excited about the story of innovation from the organization stage, high-tech processing, beautiful designs, I asked Mr. Sanh:
- During the 2 years the whole world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have encountered many difficulties in production and business. So how are your company's tea products?
Mr. Sanh happily replied:
- Although the product price has decreased from 70,000 VND/kg to 65,000 VND/kg, the unit still exports more than 1,000 tons of dried buds each year. In 2023, the price has been adjusted higher than before, the enterprise is striving to export with an output of 1,400 tons of dried tea buds. This is a great effort of the Vietnam Tea Corporation. We are very grateful for the dynamism of our superiors.
When workers have faith, Tay Son tea fields will remain green forever.
A technical officer of the unit led me and my colleagues to visit the “three biggest tea producers” in Tay Son tea village: Mr. Pham Dinh Huong (Ha Vang village), Mr. Phan Dinh Nham (Lang Che village), and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy (Tien Phong village). These families all produce from 0.8 to 1 hectare, each harvest yielding 60 to 70 quintals, with revenue from 450 to 500 million VND.
Every household I visited, I saw a couple working hard in their large tea fields. One was pruning buds, the other was weeding, the work was continuous. I stopped for quite a while in Mrs. Thuy’s tea field and asked:
- What motivated your family to dare to contract 1 hectare, and have such a high yield?
Mrs. Thuy smiled and said:
- It's the same everywhere, uncle! We have to rely on the collective to survive and develop. The biggest motivation that makes me feel secure is that the input and output of the products are supported by Tay Son Tea Enterprise. My family only takes care of production and care, while the varieties, fertilizers, pesticides... are all provided promptly by the unit. The products are collected and processed by the enterprise. I have never seen the green tea growing business as favorable as it is now.
I think, when workers have faith, Tay Son tea fields will remain green forever.
October 2023
Phan The Cai
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