Take advantage of the "first famous tea" region

Recently, in addition to improving productivity and quality of tea products, Thai Nguyen has promoted eco-tourism and developed tea culture to promote the multi-value of tea trees, contributing to enriching the people.

KEY CROPS

Tea trees grow strongly in Dai Tu, Phu Luong, Dong Hy districts, Thai Nguyen city and the communes on the eastern slopes of Tam Dao range in Pho Yen city. Due to suitable soil, climate, water resources, and the experience of planting and processing accumulated by many generations of people, Thai Nguyen tea is famous for its delicious flavor, known as "the first famous tea", winning gold and silver prizes at many international tea competitions and is favored by domestic consumers.

In recent times, many entities in the area have applied science and technology, innovated to create new products to enhance the value of tea trees. Tra Giang Cooperative in Phuc Tan Commune, Pho Yen City has more than three hectares of tea, located not far from Tan Cuong specialty tea area (Thai Nguyen City), sharing the same soil, climate, and water source, so the quality of tea products is quite similar.

Recently, Tra Giang Cooperative has shifted from traditional green tea production to black tea products, which are good for consumers' health and bring high value. Director of Tra Giang Cooperative Pham Thi Giang shared: Through accumulating experience, learning processing procedures, investing in equipment, the facility has successfully tested and produced three lines of black tea products with beautiful water color, sweet aftertaste, and characteristic flavor, so they bring higher economic value than traditional tea, creating stable income for cooperative members.

The average income of workers here is nearly 10 million VND/month. The main product "Flamingo Tea" is popular with customers, with revenue in 2024 reaching more than two billion VND.

Persistently pursuing tea cultivation according to VietGAP and organic standards; investing in processing and packaging technology and constantly improving packaging and product designs, Hao Dat Tea Cooperative in Tan Cuong commune, Thai Nguyen city has succeeded with many typical OCOP products, including bud tea products meeting five-star OCOP standards, with revenue of nearly 45 billion VND in 2024, creating jobs for more than 50 workers and hundreds of households associated with production in the region.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Nguyen, with an area of ​​over 22,200 hectares, tea is the province's main crop. Promoting this advantage, with the support of the province, businesses, cooperatives and over 90,000 households have focused on improving the productivity and quality of tea products.

Many investment models in production and processing applied to tea areas have brought initial success such as: installing works, applying automatic irrigation technology to increase winter tea productivity; taking care of tea according to VietGAP and organic standards; investing in equipment to automate many stages in the processing process...

According to statistics, Thai Nguyen tea industry currently has 193 products meeting OCOP standards from three to five stars, products are strongly consumed on technology platforms. In 2024, tea products will bring revenue to local entities of more than 13.8 trillion VND.

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT, TEA CULTURE

Thai Nguyen province is actively attracting agricultural tourists to experience the tea region, thereby not only promoting the brand and consuming products but also exploiting and promoting the multi-value of tea trees and tea regions.

The province supports investment in essential infrastructure at community tourism sites, contributing to spreading and attracting tourists, making cooperatives and households participate more and more. Director of Hao Dat Tea Cooperative Dao Thanh Hao said: On average, every day, especially on holidays, Tet, and weekends, we welcome hundreds of tourists to experience the tea growing area, process and enjoy tea.

Through this, the Thai Nguyen tea brand is better known, consumed more, and has better prices. According to Le Ngoc Linh, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thai Nguyen, there are dozens of tea experience spots in the province that have invested in spacious facilities and professional services, thus attracting more and more tourists.

In 2024, the province will welcome 3.4 million tourists, an increase of nearly 40% compared to 2023, with revenue reaching nearly 3,100 billion VND, of which there is a significant contribution from tea production facilities.

The province is coordinating with Vietnam Railways Corporation to test the Hanoi-Thai Nguyen tourist trains, receiving the attention of many travel businesses and tourists...

However, the leaders of Thai Nguyen province admitted that despite the progress, the tea industry's development lacked breakthroughs and was not commensurate with the potential and advantages of the "first famous tea".

Accordingly, there is still a lack of enterprises and cooperatives investing in large-scale tea production, processing and trading with modern technology; tea cultivation is still popular on a small-scale, household scale, without the conditions for large investments to increase the value of tea.

On a large scale, tea processing technology is still limited, very few products are extracted into drinks, soft drinks, cosmetics... To overcome this limitation, Secretary of Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee Trinh Viet Hung said: Implementing a breakthrough resolution for the tea industry, recently, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee directed the Provincial People's Committee to review the planning, propose a plan to expand the concentrated tea area in Tan Cuong commune, combine urban planning, community tea cultural space associated with tourism and service development, taking tea trees as the center, as the driving force for development.

From now until 2030, in addition to protecting and maintaining the existing tea area, Thai Nguyen province will also develop it to 24,500 hectares of tea; support businesses, cooperatives, and cooperative groups to build larger concentrated tea areas to have conditions to apply science and technology, invest in equipment to improve the quality and diversify tea processed products; increase promotion and sale of products on e-commerce platforms; exploit the potential of tourism and tea culture to promote the multi-value of tea trees.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tan-dung-loi-the-mien-de-nhat-danh-tra-post874468.html