(Baonghean.vn) - These days, all over the hills and tea gardens in Thanh Chuong district, farmers are harvesting spring tea - the first tea crop of the year.
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| With an area of over 4,200 hectares, Thanh Chuong is the province's tea granary. After two "great droughts" in mid-2015 and the cold snap at the beginning of this year, the spring tea yield was low, about 3 - 3.5 tons/ha. Currently, throughout the tea regions along Ho Chi Minh Road, farmers in tea-growing communes such as Hanh Lam, Thanh An, Thanh Thuy, Thanh Mai... are harvesting tea buds. |
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| Most households use cutting machines for harvesting, which can be rented or exchanged. Each machine, along with a crew of 3 people (2 people carrying the machine, 1 person carrying the bag), can cut nearly 1 hectare of tea per day, with a yield of about 2.5 - 3 tons/day. Harvesting tea by machine is beneficial in terms of productivity and output, but tea growers must ensure proper cutting and care techniques for harvesting by machine to be successful. |
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| Scattered in communes, some households with small tea areas continue to harvest by hand. |
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| Ms. Hoang Thi Loan (Hamlet 1, Thanh An Commune) said: This year's spring tea crop has a lower yield than previous years. Her family grows 1.5 hectares and after harvesting, they will get about 4.5 - 5 tons of fresh tea. From the second harvest onwards, the tea yield will be high. In the photo: After being cut, the tea is packed into sacks weighing about 40 - 60kg to be imported to processing facilities. |
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| Tea is grown on high hills. When harvested, people often take advantage of the terrain to roll the bags of tea down to the foot of the hill. |
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| From the harvest site, tea is transported to processing facilities by car or trailer. In the photo: A female tea grower in Thanh Ha commune is transporting tea to the processing factory in Thanh Mai commune. |
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| In Thanh Chuong, there are currently 3 tea factories: Thanh Mai, Ngoc Lam, Hanh Lam. In addition, there are many mini tea factories, meeting the demand for selling tea buds of local people. In Thanh Thuy commune, there are 6 tea factories, purchasing and processing 18 - 25 tons of fresh tea every day. Tea factory owner Nguyen Van Hop (Thanh Thuy town) said: Every day, the factory purchases and processes about 3 tons of fresh tea, the current purchase price is from 3,200 - 3,400 VND/kg. |
Huy Thu
