Nghe An: Farmers produce clean tea using Japanese technology.

(Baonghean.vn) - For a long time, Hung Son has been considered one of the largest tea-producing areas in Anh Son district, with an area of ​​530 hectares. With years of experience in tea production, the people here have recently increased the economic value of tea by investing in the production of high-quality teas such as Matcha and high-quality hook-shaped tea.

In mid-March, Hung Son is quite bustling as tea growers in the commune are starting to produce spring tea. Mr. Pham Van Quy from Hamlet 5, the first tea grower to successfully apply the Japanese technology for processing Matcha tea, shared: In 2016, he was fortunate to be invited by JICA to visit Japan to learn about high-quality matcha tea production models. During this time, he received training on how to prepare the soil, plant, care for, harvest, and process tea.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quy, from Hamlet 5, Hung Son Commune, with a system of machinery invested in by the Japanese JICA organization. Photo: Huyen Trang.

After completing his studies, Mr. Quy returned and applied this process with technical and machinery support from the Japanese organization JICA. Accordingly, the process of planting and caring for matcha tea raw materials always adheres strictly to the procedure, from clearing the vegetation using only manual labor and without the use of herbicides. At the same time, fertilizers used are mainly organic fertilizers and microbial fertilizers made from agricultural by-products. This creates "clean" tea raw materials, resulting in high-quality tea products.

Notably, the raw materials for matcha tea are harvested only within one week when the tea buds reach their optimal quality. Before harvesting, the tea plants are shaded from 60-90% sunlight for 25 days. After harvesting, the tea is preserved, steamed, and dried using proper techniques to produce a delicious, high-quality product. Mr. Quy excitedly added: "Last year, my family experimented with production on an area of ​​7 acres, and all the tea we produced was purchased by them. Soon, my family will receive further investment from the Japanese company in a drying system to standardize matcha tea production."

Mr. Nguyen Canh Tuan, from Hamlet 4, Hung Son Commune, earns a considerable income from his high-quality, handcrafted tea processing facility. Photo: Huyen Trang

Leaving Mr. Quy's family, we visited the tea processing facility of Mr. Nguyen Canh Tuan in Hamlet 4, Hung Son Commune. It was the peak tea harvest season, so his family's tea processing facility was busier than usual.

Anh Tuan shared: To make delicious tea, first of all, the tea leaves must be of high quality ("one bud, two leaves"), the tea must be harvested at the right time, and it must be processed on the same day it is harvested.

Furthermore, the tea leaves must be hand-picked to avoid crushing or mixing in substandard tea. Six kilograms of fresh tea leaves are needed to produce one kilogram of dried tea. The tea leaves must be uniformly sized. After harvesting, the tea is processed. During the roasting process, the fire should not be too strong to prevent the tea from turning red, and the rolling process must be done by hand to ensure even distribution. Other stages, from sifting to packaging, are also done by hand. Therefore, the tea leaves produced by Mr. Tuan's facility are always more fragrant, delicious, and flavorful than those from industrially processed tea facilities. On average, his family produces and packages 3 tons of tea annually. With a price of 150,000 - 200,000 VND/kg, after deducting expenses, he earns a profit of 80 million VND per year.

Producing high-quality tea requires farmers to meet strict standards in both cultivation and harvesting. Photo: Huyen Trang

Mr. Hoang Dinh My, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Son commune, said: Currently, the entire commune has over 530 hectares of industrial tea plantations with more than 480 households growing tea. Of this, 70% of the fresh tea production is supplied to tea processing factories in the area, and the rest is consumed by the people themselves. Building high-quality mini-tea processing facilities is essential to solve the problem of raw material output and increase people's income. Following the establishment of these processing facilities, the local government is encouraging families with large tea plantations to learn from their experience and replicate the model into more family-run tea processing facilities to improve economic efficiency.

Huyen Trang