Nghe An tea exports reach over 7 million USD

(Baonghean) - With an area of ​​nearly 8,000 hectares, tea is one of the province's main crops. However, the brand 'Nghe An tea' is still only an input material for major tea manufacturers in the world...

Quality decline

In 2014 and 2015, severe droughts occurred continuously in tea regions, killing and affecting hundreds of hectares. This is considered an objective cause for the decline in productivity, output and even quality of Nghe An tea. However, that is only one of many causes and is of a “temporary” nature. In recent years, with the movement of mechanization in production, tea growers have had less trouble, but that is also a reason for the decline in tea quality.

Mr. Le Hong Phuc - Director of Phuc Hung Thinh Tea Company Limited, Thanh Chuong shared: Our Nghe An tea is cleaner because businesses and people do not pursue profits at all costs, people only use herbicides when taking care of tea, not toxic stimulants. However, due to loose management, people do not harvest according to the correct process, often wait for good tea to pick, although the weight is higher, it affects the quality of the finished tea, in the long run, the quality and longevity of the tea tree are poor, the product can only be sold at low prices.

Commercial tea in Hung Son. Photo: PV

The reason why raw tea in Thanh Chuong is picked incorrectly and is still easily sold is because in addition to factories and enterprises, there is also the massive presence of over 50 mini tea drying kilns with old technology participating in purchasing fresh tea buds for processing.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tri - Director of Ngoc Lam Tea Enterprise, Thanh Chuong said: In developing raw material areas, the unit has many investment policies to support tea growers such as loans to buy seeds, fertilizers, build roads... but people still break their commitments, sell raw tea to mini processing facilities to get "fresh money", avoid having to pay debts, making the situation of fighting for buying and selling still complicated.

Anh Son is one of the two localities with the largest industrial tea area in the province, and is also the area severely affected by drought. According to Mr. Nguyen Dinh Dang - Head of the District's Agriculture Department, in recent years, the introduction of mechanization has solved many problems in seasonal pressure and labor, one machine and 3 workers can pick 2-3 tons of fresh tea buds, the picking productivity is 10-12 times higher than the previous manual picking, however, it also reduces the quality of tea.

With the contract price of 90,000 VND for 100 kg of fresh tea buds, picking tea too deep by machine to get the highest yield of tea will bring profit to both the picker and the garden owner. That is also why the quality of tea right from the harvest has decreased compared to before and the concept of 1 bud with 2,3 leaves is very rare.

Tea picking in Thanh Chuong.

Another problem that causes the low quality of Nghe An tea is that factories are still only processing raw materials, not focusing on investing in modern equipment to produce quality finished products. Many production lines were installed 15-20 years ago.

Mainly raw export

As the main crop of Nghe An, tea has created jobs for tens of thousands of workers. And although we currently only export raw materials to major tea companies in the world, each year Nghe An tea still brings in an export value of 5 - 7.5 million USD.

By the end of 2015, the whole province had 86 processing lines with a total designed capacity of 871 tons of fresh buds/day, in addition there were 74 mini processing facilities with a total designed green tea processing capacity of 543 tons of fresh buds/day.

According to the plan, by 2020, the whole province will have 10,000 hectares of tea, with an estimated output of 110 - 130 thousand tons of fresh buds. To meet processing needs and gradually improve quality, it is necessary to invest in technological innovation and increase the capacity of some processing facilities. Small and mini processing facilities must innovate processing technology to comply with the standards of the agricultural sector.

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu said: The Department has issued a complete tea production process, tea areas need to focus on intensive investment, fully apply the process, apply and transfer scientific and technological advances, focus on developing high-tech tea areas, safe tea areas. Use high-yield, good-quality tea varieties with good adaptability to gradually replace old, long-standing, low-yield tea areas. Strengthen training and guidance for people on new planting techniques, care, exploitation and processing according to technical procedures.

Dried tea buds products of Phuc Hung Thinh Tea Processing Facility, Thanh Thinh Commune (Thanh Chuong).

In particular, when tea materials are guaranteed, tea processing equipment and technology must be innovated in the direction of using high technology, processing high-quality green tea, oolong tea, CTC black tea; diversifying tea products with beautiful designs and packaging, suitable for consumer tastes.

In addition, there should be appropriate policies to encourage businesses to cooperate with farmers or cooperatives and cooperative groups to invest in production, linking production with investment in processing facilities to consume products for people. Increase investment in science and technology, apply technical equipment, intensive farming to increase productivity and quality to enhance product competitiveness.

Phu Huong