Productivity and output decreased
Tua Chua district has 595 hectares of tea, of which about 30 hectares are ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees, the rest are low-tree tea trees grown mainly in the communes of Sin Chai, Ta Sin Thang, Ta Phin, Sinh Phinh. For the Mong ethnic people here, ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees are always considered a rare gift bestowed by nature. Thanks to tea trees, many families have been able to raise their children to study, buy household items and amenities.
Similar to some other agricultural products, Tua Chua tea cannot avoid the situation of good harvest but low price and good price but bad harvest. Normally, tea trees are harvested 3-4 times a year. The first crop is around the end of March and beginning of April; the second crop is harvested around May and June; the third crop is in August and the last crop is in October and November. This year, although it is the harvest season, tea growers are not happy because the prolonged heat has significantly affected the growth and development of tea trees, leading to many tea areas not producing buds, reducing productivity and output.
Mr. Hang A Tong’s family in Hau Chua village, Sin Chai commune is one of the households with the most ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees in the area. However, this year, the hot weather at the beginning of the season has prevented the tea trees from budding; some trees are at risk of disease and leaf burn. At the same time last year, his family had finished harvesting the second crop, but now they have only harvested the first crop, and the yield has decreased significantly.
Sin Chai is the commune with the largest tea area in the district with nearly 50 hectares, including 3,132 ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees. According to Mr. Giang A Tinh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Sin Chai commune, in recent years the commune has identified tea as a key economic crop for people to develop the economy. Tea trees have contributed significantly to helping people in the commune have a stable source of income and escape poverty. However, this year's prolonged heat has affected many tea areas, tea buds cannot grow, especially tall tea trees. Up to now, the second harvest has entered, but the yield is very low, only half of last year. Some tea areas have even had the phenomenon of young buds being scorched.
Not only affecting tea growers, but tea production facilities are also facing many difficulties due to lack of raw materials for processing. Ms. Nguyen My Linh, Director of Huong Linh Company Limited, said: In previous years, the company purchased about 30 tons of fresh tea buds from people, this year it has only purchased about 6 tons (equivalent to processing 1 ton of commercial tea). The hot weather has caused the company's tea bud purchase output this year to decrease by 2/3 compared to 2023. Without raw materials, many orders have had to be postponed, greatly affecting the company's production activities.
According to the authorities of Tua Chua district, the hot weather has slowed down the tea harvest compared to previous years; at the same time, it has reduced the productivity and output of tea. On average, each year before, the whole district harvested about 102 tons of fresh tea buds, equivalent to 17 tons of dry tea. This year, the output of fresh tea buds has decreased significantly. Since the beginning of May, there have been a few scattered rains in the district, but the amount of rain is relatively small and unevenly distributed, so the drought situation in the tea area has not been resolved. If the hot weather continues, the output of tea buds will continue to decrease.
Foreign traders take over
According to the experience of the people, the best tea is the first crop (spring crop) harvested at the end of March because the weather is cool so the quality is considered the best. At this time, tea growers in Sin Chai, Ta Phin, Ta Sin Thanh, Sinh Phinh communes have finished harvesting the first crop and are starting to harvest the second crop, but it is the end of May, people have only harvested the first batch of buds, and some places have not even harvested yet. The reason is that the weather is hot and sunny, the tea plants do not produce buds.
For the tea buds that people have harvested, foreign traders (China) have bought them all and pushed the price of fresh tea buds up to nearly 200,000 VND/kg, while in previous years it only fluctuated between 90,000 - 110,000 VND/kg. This is the highest price ever when purchasing fresh tea buds. Of course, people benefit from selling tea buds due to the high tea price, but due to the hot weather, the output has decreased, the percentage of tea sold is low, so even though the price is high, tea growers still do not have complete joy.
The price foreign traders buy is high, but the tea standards and harvesting techniques are not strict, causing many people to worry that it will affect the development of ancient tea trees and the tea yield of the following crops will decrease. Vietnamese traders only buy tea picked with the youngest bud and 2 adjacent leaves below. However, foreign traders buy both 1-bud and 5-6 adjacent leaves, and at the same time encourage people to harvest all 4 crops, even when the tea flowers, foreign traders still buy. If exploited in such a destructive way, it will affect the productivity of the tea trees, even causing the tea trees to gradually wither and die.
The fact that foreign traders have pushed up the price of tea has made it impossible for some purchasing and processing establishments in the district (Phan Nhat Tea Company, Huong Linh Company Limited and some small processing establishments) to compete. Currently, purchasing establishments in the district also have no products to supply to their regular customers.
Ms. Nguyen My Linh, Director of Huong Linh Company Limited, said: People will sell tea to any purchasing facility that has a high price. Foreign traders are purchasing at nearly 200,000 VND/kg of fresh tea buds, at this price the facilities in the province cannot keep up. While in previous years, the Company supplied the market with 4-5 tons of commercial tea each year, equivalent to 24-30 tons of fresh tea buds. However, this year it has only purchased about 6 tons of fresh buds, mainly short-tree tea. Because it cannot compete on price with foreign traders, the Company currently has no products to supply to regular customers.
It is thought that the authorities and local governments need to strictly control the buying and selling and processing of tea, especially for foreign traders. Avoid the situation of purchasing in a destructive manner that affects the growth of tea plants and causes difficulties for processing facilities in the province.
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