Expanding production of qualified organic tea

Director of the Agricultural Extension Center of Thai Nguyen province Ha Trong Tuan said that, tea is identified as a key, potential crop in Thai Nguyen which has the largest tea growing area, estimated at 22,500 hectares.

In recent year, Thai Nguyen has sped up the transformation of tea variety structure, applying science, technology in production. Although most of the province’s tea area was grown in a safe way not many production areas were certificated organic.

In 2020, Thai Nguyen province’s Agricultural Extension Center started to grow tea to meet Vietnamese standard TCVN 11041 on 60 hectares. The aim of this model is to successfully develop a linkage chain to promote the consumption at the areas where the model is deployed, creating sustainable production, improving quality, adding value to the product and increasing growers’ income.

At the same time, the model also brings farmers a new agricultural production method that is eco-friendly, contributing to protecting the health of growers and consumers.

Accordingly, Thai Nguyen province’s Agricultural Extension Center conducted a survey and selected five areas to deploy the model. The selected areas are all cooperatives with experience in producing products in a safe way such as applying IPM, meeting the standards of VietGAP and organic production.

The production areas are in the specialty tea producing regions. Their products are mainly sold in the domestic market at high prices. Therefore, making production plans for the model need to be based on reality and it’s necessary to have a sustainable development strategy to attract market and member households.

Initially, after being trained in farming techniques and granted certificates of training, the participants have gradually made changes in the production, overcoming their weak points (paying attention to creating the isolated buffer zones, improving the soil) to meet the standards’ requirements.

Director of Thuy Thuat Tea Cooperative in Phuc Triu commune (Thai Nguyen City) Ngo Viet Thuat said it was an honor and a pride to participate in the program on building organic certification for tea production because the specialized organizations based on many aspects to assess the safety level in the production process to select the cooperatives. It's also a responsibility and an opportunity for tea producers to grasp and master the new production method to produce high-quality and high-value products.

Leader of Chinh Phu organic tea producing group in Phu Xuyen (Dai Tu district) Dao Thi Thoi said tea farmers were more aware of organic farming practices when putting the model into operation.

Apart from being supported with materials such as organic fertilizers applying on tea leaves, microbial products, fertilizers and biological pesticides, farmers are also trained on making compost on the spot, improving the soil and manage pests and diseases.

If in the past, tea growers mainly relied on their own knowledge and experience; they are now instructed to methodically conduct farming. Over a year of applying the model, most of tea growers see that ecosystem on the tea plantations has change, farming and living environments are improved; tea plants grow stably in terms of yield and quality.

Deputy Director of Thai Nguyen province's Agricultural Extension Center said it's good that farmers have seen that organic tea production is an inevitable trend.

Thai Nguyen province's Agricultural Extension Center will continue to help improve the management ability for the board of management of the model to make it become a head to connect with enterprises to sell the product sustainably in addition to supporting each other in the production.

At the same time, the Center will work with the relevant agencies to mobilize resources to help producing groups, cooperatives in all aspects toward the sustainable development of the market.