Building brands for products in ethnic minority and mountainous areas

Successfully building a brand for products from ethnic minority and mountainous areas will help increase the value of the product and improve people's lives. Detech Coffee - a business has chosen Arabica coffee from Son La raw material area, the land considered the capital of coffee and tea in Vietnam to build a brand and develop products.

Ms. Le Thi Hang, Deputy General Director of Detech Coffee Company (Detech Coffee) shares how to create high-quality Son La coffee products while improving the livelihoods of ethnic minorities.

Madam, how did the company come up with the idea of turning Son La ethnic minority coffee into a branded product exported to the world ? From this idea, what coffee products and brands has the company built for Son La ethnic minorities?

The motivation for Detech Coffee Company to come up with the idea of bringing Son La coffee brand to the consumer market comes from the fact that we are very proud and have faith in the potential of Vietnamese coffee.

Son La is a mountainous province in the North of Vietnam, where natural conditions and soil are extremely favorable for growing Arabica coffee. However, Son La coffee is mainly exported in raw form, so many Vietnamese people do not know that the Northwest region has coffee, especially Arabica coffee. Consumers only know about a Robusta coffee product that has a chocolate, caramel flavor, strong flavor and is often drunk with sugar or milk.

Xây dựng thương hiệu cho sản phẩm vùng đồng bào dân tộc, miền núi

Trust and pride motivate Detech Coffee to build a brand for products from ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

However, the difference of Arabica coffee products is the light sour taste, the floral aroma, the characteristic taste of the Northwest region is the herbal taste, many customers do not know. This is the reason we choose to bring the value of Arabica coffee to consumers. Above all, we want to create a livelihood for ethnic minorities there, helping them have a stable life and connect with the soil and climate conditions that nature has bestowed on Son La, Northwest.

Over the past time, how has Detech Coffee helped Son La people change their lives and improve the livelihoods of ethnic minorities in the coffee industry, madam?

Up to now, our company has built the following products: high quality processed products, specialty products, we have exported directly and indirectly to markets in Europe, New Zealand, and the US.

Ms. Le Thi Hang, Deputy General Director of Detech Coffee Company (Detech Coffee)

In addition, many consumers have not known what Arabica coffee tastes like. Sometimes when customers enjoy Arabica coffee products, they feel the sour taste, they think “Oh, why is this product sour, or is the coffee spoiled?” but in fact the world has long favored Arabica coffee products.

Arabica coffee production is less than Robusta, but the value is higher and has different characteristics such as smooth, mild taste and the difference is low caffeine content, when we drink in the afternoon and evening it will help us stay awake but not cause insomnia. This is the difference of Arabica coffee products.

Another special thing is that Arabica products are grown in high mountainous areas (800m or more above sea level), so the production, harvesting and processing conditions of ethnic minorities there are very difficult. Therefore, when Detech Coffee went to the Northwest region and worked with the people, understanding their working conditions, we really wanted to bring the value of Arabica coffee not only to the domestic market but also to the foreign market. At the same time, we want to bring the regional cultural value of Son La to the foreign market through coffee products to attract not only domestic but also international visitors to the raw material area so that they understand and thereby increase the economy , create jobs as well as develop coffee cultural community tourism in the Son La and Northwest regions.

In addition to roasted and ground coffee products, Detech Coffee also has other processed products such as paper filter coffee. This is a very convenient product. In addition, because people in Son La have been growing old coffee varieties for 30 years, so in order to have better quality and yield replanting, Detech Coffee also has new coffee varieties that have been consulted by the Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and have been piloted by Detech Coffee. In particular, this new coffee variety will adapt well to climate change, because farming is greatly affected by weather factors, soil conditions and now climate. Thus, it is very important for people to have a life connected with coffee.

In addition, Detech Coffee also produces certified coffee, which also brings value to farmers such as bonuses for each 1kg of product. Above all, it has created a supply chain for sellers, buyers and the main beneficiaries are farmers in our supply chain, helping their lives to be sustainable.

In addition, we also have training sessions to improve the capacity of coffee cultivation, production and processing for ethnic minorities. As a result, the products obtained have better quality and yield in the same harvest season.

Can you tell us what difficulties your business has encountered and how it has overcome them in building and positioning the brand for products of ethnic minorities in Son La?

In the process of working with people in the Northwest mountainous region, Detech Coffee also encountered many advantages, as well as challenges and difficulties.

The advantage is that we get to work with the people, directly learn about their habits, customs and listen to real stories such as people who have been doing the job for 20-30 years but have never been trained or coached to improve their cognitive capacity, so they still think that their farming habits are effective. This is one of the advantages when the people are very friendly.

In addition, Detech Coffee has the support of local authorities, as well as officials working in the agricultural sector in the Northwest mountainous region and cooperatives to share and connect in production, to create a chain of links so that our products have consistency in product quality when supplied to customers, not only in the domestic market, but also in the international market.

Besides, we have a team of dedicated staff, they understand and love people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, they are aware of how to bring value to ethnic minorities there to help them have a stable life and livelihood, not only for the business itself but also for ethnic minorities to have a sustainable supply chain.

Coffee products of Son La ethnic minorities are processed and supplied to the market by Detech Coffee.

The difficulty is that in the production and processing of products, the connection needs to be tighter, somewhere in the regions there is still a lack of unity, so the input quality of the people is still not stable. This is also a difficulty for businesses.

At the same time, people still have the habit of picking mixed products, not selectively, still picking green and red fruits. When the quality of input from the raw material area is mixed like that, it will affect the cost price. Competition for businesses when purchasing with people is also a difficult problem.

Along with that, the quality of coffee in the region is not high, when working with partners in the domestic or foreign market, the "problem" of worrying about price as well as quality is also a difficulty.

In addition, the difficulty is how to gradually change people's prejudices and habits. Therefore, training courses from experts in the agricultural sector are needed to educate people and encourage them to change their habits to increase quality and output right from the start.

Finally, coffee only has one crop per year, from October to February, so what will people do the rest of the time to earn more income, not to mention the impact of the market on prices and climate change. At the same time, creating a sustainable supply chain also creates jobs and stability for people. These are the concerns of businesses.

In the coming time, what plans will Detech Coffee have to develop the brand and enhance the competitiveness of coffee products of the people of Son La?

We at Detech Coffee also have concerns in the process of working with people, especially ethnic minorities in Son La. From those concerns, we will find solutions to improve the competitiveness of Son La coffee products.

Firstly, regarding the consistency of product quality, we will try to change the people, encourage them to change their mixed harvesting habits, to increase quality and output right from the input in the raw material area.

Second, sustainability in agricultural development, we always want to invite experts in the agricultural sector to train people to create a sustainable agricultural ecosystem. The agricultural ecosystem here is related to factors of land, water, environment, forest, etc. We also have plans to produce coffee according to sustainable certification such as "Rainforest Alliance" and in the supply chain, we are currently working with 500 households in the Son La coffee raw material area. Through this certificate, people are educated, trained, and have awareness raised, they understand that the ecosystem they work on is very important, affecting their lives. Not only creating jobs for themselves, having a stable income, but also their own land, their own water source, people can balance, in the process of harvesting and cultivating coffee to adapt to climate change.

For example, in the process of inviting experts to support people in the process of growing peanuts, the roots of peanuts have the effect of creating loose soil, keeping the soil moist, balancing the ecosystem and in the process of growing peanuts, people also have short-term income. Also in the process of training on "Rainforest Alliance" certified coffee, we also have training programs for people related to the environment, and people have also had awareness to change that.

We also have plans to train people in knowledge about risk management and labor safety. Because in the Northwest region, working conditions are mainly in high mountainous areas, it is very easy for people to have labor risks. This is also a challenge for them, not to mention when harvesting in steep areas, most people do not have insurance. Therefore, we have plans to help them have better knowledge about labor safety and help their health stabilize, then all the remaining work related to their livelihood and life will be better and more secure.

In addition, we also have a plan to encourage people to innovate and manage better in their daily work. That is to do and arrange daily work related to labor safety, which people have long thought was complicated, but in fact, when experts come, they only arrange tools and equipment for people to do daily work more neatly, minimizing risks for their children.

Thank you!

Source link