Van Chan people change their lives from tea trees

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngan, 55 years old, living in Trung Tam village, was quickly picking the spring tea crop, stopping to share: Her family has one hectare of dense Shan Tuyet tea, which was renovated and newly planted since 2005, each year they harvest five main crops, each crop yields four tons of fresh tea buds. With the purchase price right at the foot of the hill of 7,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, she earns more than 100 million VND/year.

More than 90% of households of the three ethnic groups Kinh, Dao, Thai in Nam Bung commune here grow tea. The midland tea trees were planted in 1968, after more than 30 years they have become old, no longer suitable for the soil, the price is only about 3,000 VND/kg, so Yen Bai province has put Shan Tuyet tea trees into mass planting, with a planting density of 16,000 trees/ha, creating new opportunities for tea growers.

Mr. Ly Dao Chu, Head of Sai Luong village, is the pioneer in selecting Shan Tuyet tea varieties from ancient Suoi Giang tea seeds to plant since 2002. Up to now, they have been harvested, with fresh buds selling for 20,000 VND/kg. He shared: We Dao people now know how to do business . If we plant cinnamon for a long time, we have to plant again from the beginning after harvesting (when harvesting, we have to cut down the tree and peel the bark). But Shan Tuyet tea is planted once, and can be harvested for a lifetime. The people in the highlands are very excited. Sai Luong village has 180 households, Nam Chau village has 170 households, all of which grow Shan Tuyet tea. Thanks to that, the lives of the Dao people are much better!

In Tan Thinh commune, the key tea growing area of ​​Van Chan district, there are currently nearly 400 hectares of tea, mainly LDP1, LDP2, Bat Tien, Phuc Van Tien varieties. There are cooperatives and many private enterprises specializing in trading and processing tea. Thanks to good soil, abundant rain, hot and humid weather, and a tradition of making tea, the locality harvests more than 2,400 tons of tea buds every year. The selling price of fresh buds currently fluctuates around 4,000 VND/kg, people earn nearly 10 billion VND from tea trees, and the lives of many families intensively cultivating tea have improved a lot compared to before. Thanks to convenient transportation, fresh tea buds picked from the hills are brought directly to processing factories, avoiding loss and not affecting product quality.

To support local households, the Van Chan District Branch of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development opened another transaction office in the commune, making it easier for people to borrow capital to buy fertilizers, pesticides, and tea production tools. The bank has established 300 loan groups, with nearly 4,000 members borrowing capital to grow tea, with outstanding credit of more than VND800 billion, creating momentum for tea growers to have the opportunity to develop their economy.

Currently, Van Chan district has 4,650 hectares of tea, of which the shan tuyet tea area is more than 1,500 hectares. In 2024, the total output will reach 48,500 tons, bringing significant income to the people. In order to develop sustainable tea trees, Van Chan district has improved the quality of tea trees with VietGAP standards, organic tea certification, 4-star OCOP product certification for 10 products, and 3-star OCOP certification for eight products. Shan tuyet tea products are granted the geographical indication "Suoi Giang Van Chan" for five units. Every year, Van Chan district organizes the Suoi Giang Tea Festival combined with tourism, to promote high-quality tea products to domestic and international tourists, creating a direction for mountainous agricultural products.

There was a time when the price of tea buds dropped, people destroyed tea and switched to growing fruit trees, forestry trees... In that situation, the People's Committee of Yen Bai province established a project to develop tea trees in the period of 2016-2020, focusing on planting nearly 3,400 hectares of tea trees in mountainous districts, including 800 hectares of high-density Shan Tuyet tea with 16,000 pots/ha in Gia Hoi and Nam Bung communes; at the same time, developing Shan Tuyet tea areas in Suoi Giang, Phinh Ho, Suoi Bu, Sung Do, Nam Muoi districts... and associated with eco-tourism.

In these tea areas, visitors have the opportunity to explore ancient tea forests hundreds of years old, with tree trunks that can be hugged by two people and canopies that are dozens of meters wide, and experience climbing trees to pick tea with locals. This is a sustainable direction for traditional tea areas. Visitors can also enjoy the elaborate way of making and drinking tea from the hands of H'Mong girls. In the cool weather at an altitude of over 1,000m, lifting a cup of tea that shimmers like wild honey, visitors sip small sips with an unforgettable sweet and fragrant taste.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/nguoi-dan-van-chan-doi-doi-tu-cay-che-post881971.html