Establishing the "Nghe An Tea" brand early on.

(Baonghean)To date, the province has 68 enterprises, cooperatives, and tea production and processing facilities, including 60 artisanal tea production and processing facilities with a capacity of 0.5 to 10 tons per day. These are concentrated most heavily in Thanh Chuong district with 54 kilns, followed by Anh Son district with 4 kilns and Con Cuong district with 2 kilns.

The total processing capacity is 380 tons of fresh tea leaves per day. Despite the large tea-growing area and numerous tea production and processing facilities, only 10 hectares of tea plantations have been certified for VietGAP-compliant tea production, and only 2 units have been recognized as meeting HACCP standards (a principle in the food safety management system) for tea processing. This is far too little and still fragmented. Due to traditional farming practices, tea farmers in the region still primarily rely on experience passed down through generations, and to this day, Nghe An tea products lack any certification to gain the trust of domestic and international consumers.

According to Nghe An province's orientation for 2020 and vision for 2030, tea remains a key crop. The Sub-Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Product Quality Management continues to regularly inspect and monitor tea production and processing facilities in accordance with Circular No. 45/2014/TT-BNNPTNT to guide businesses to operate in an orderly manner and comply with regulations; and to manage the quality and food safety of the tea industry throughout the entire chain, from field production to processing and consumption. However, this work still faces many difficulties due to the limited mindset and awareness of some people...

The practical demands placed on authorities, the tea-growing community in general, and tea production and business establishments in Nghe An province in particular are to establish a mechanism for managing product quality, register and protect the Nghe An tea brand, and form a collective organization to jointly preserve and protect the cultural value, as well as exploit the economic value of tea products in a suitable and highly effective manner. In other words, the "necessary" goal of building the "Nghe An Tea" brand is a task requiring the intellect and dedication of both the leaders and people of Nghe An.

Huu Tiep

Vinh City