Thanh Chuong needs a major breakthrough

Problem to consider

Although over the years, Thanh Chuong district has had focused solutions to develop. And in fact, Thanh Chuong is now the capital of tea trees in Nghe An with a total area of ​​4,438.2 hectares of tea, of which 3,880 hectares are for business, the largest in the province. The forest area is also up to 60,000 hectares, of which 23,000 hectares are planted forests, accounting for 15% of the province. The total livestock and poultry herd of the district also accounts for a fairly large proportion. While industry, small-scale industry, and services are still quite modest, if not very vibrant, agriculture is bringing changes to the poor land. The proof is that up to now, the whole district has 15 communes and 7 hamlets meeting new rural standards.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy chaired a meeting with leaders of Thanh Chuong district. Photo: Thanh Duy

But the painful and worrying thing that everyone feels is that Thanh Chuong is lacking a real push and breakthrough on its foundation. Tea is its strength! Everyone affirms that, but Thanh Chuong tea is having to play a "supporting role" in the tea market. Thousands of hectares have been put into exploitation, but tea growers cannot avoid feeling nervous and anxious because the output is still unstable, depending almost entirely on about 70 small processing facilities in the area, while the processing enterprises under Nghe An Tea Investment and Development Company are operating ineffectively and have stopped operating.

Thanh Chuong district leaders also consider this the weakest point in the process of growing, caring for, processing and consuming this strong plant. In many forums, and even at the meeting, Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee Nguyen Van Que eagerly proposed to attract a large-scale, high-class tea factory in Thanh Chuong to purchase, process, improve productivity, quality and especially build and enhance the Thanh Chuong tea brand.

Harvesting and processing tea in Thanh Chuong. Photo: Mai Hoa

Or like the whole area of ​​planted forests is very large but in Thanh Chuong, it is mainly planted and consumed in the style of "eating young rice". Acacia trees are only 4 - 5 years old but are sold, but there is a lack of large timber forests. This is also the problem that Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Nghia Hieu expressed concern about. Therefore, in order for Thanh Chuong to "transcend the land" to develop from agriculture, there needs to be a serious and synchronous participation. The Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: The industry will focus on supporting forest certification to plant large timber forests, and at the same time find businesses to join. As for tea trees, the district needs to firmly maintain the planning, because this is a tree with high economic value, currently averaging 70 - 80 million VND/ha.

“The Department of Agriculture is directing the equitization of Nghe An Tea Company, which is expected to be completed by September this year. The strategic investor has committed that after equitization, in the Nghe An tea region, of which Thanh Chuong is the largest, they will focus on building high-tech tea processing facilities. Only then can Thanh Chuong's strengths in tea be effectively addressed.”

Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Nghia Hieu

Dien grapefruit has high yield in Thanh Lien commune (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Nguyen Son

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy also highly agrees with the direction of choosing agriculture as the main "front" in the economic development of Thanh Chuong district. However, there is a feeling that the district's agriculture is basically only pure production, and is struggling to form highly effective agricultural production value chains.

“Why can Son La in the Northwest produce high-quality vegetables for export to Japan with very high value? We should think about that,” said comrade Thai Thanh Quy and suggested that the district should develop agriculture associated with deep and refined processing to increase product value and production value per area. In addition, the head of the provincial People's Committee also suggested paying attention to forestry with quality wood products, to anticipate the upcoming province will have a high-tech forest product processing industrial park to deeply process wood products; at the same time, there will be a large-scale MDF wood factory in Anh Son.

Exploiting tourism potential

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy inspected the progress of the Cau Cau Lake mixed-use tourism and resort project in Thanh An and Thanh Thinh communes. Photo: Thanh Duy

On the tourism map of the province, Thanh Chuong has not made a mark for a long time. But in recent years, when the tea island in Cau Cau Lake in Thanh Thinh and Thanh An communes was discovered and promoted, this place has attracted a significant number of tourists every year. Director of Nghe An Department of Tourism Nguyen Manh Cuong assessed this as a very special resource. And "why would you not come back" - if there is an investor with enough potential to develop it properly, it will become an extremely attractive destination, bringing high economic efficiency.

Looking at the overall picture, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy assessed that Thanh Chuong initially took advantage of its terrain, geographical features, and agricultural products to develop tourism, but looking at the current situation, tourism in the district is still basically spontaneous. Therefore, Thanh Chuong should seriously consider tourism as an economic sector of the district. To do so, it is necessary to review the system of relics, spiritual tourism sites, along with eco-resort tourism, and at the same time organize seminars to get opinions from experts and tourism businesses. After that, the district will cooperate with the Department of Tourism to develop a tourism development project because with the conditions of infrastructure, climate, nature, culture - history, the area is capable of becoming the center of tourism in the province.

With that vision, the district focuses on promoting and encouraging the development of industries and handicrafts to serve agriculture, tourism and services. And importantly, according to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, in order to develop strongly, Thanh Chuong must promote the rich tradition of its homeland, which is studiousness, hard work, many people passing exams, many people making great contributions in domestic and international fields. This is one of the greatest values, if the district promotes it well, it will be the basis for them to contribute their intelligence, material and spiritual resources, and join hands to build their homeland.

View of tea island in Cau Cau dam area (Thanh Chuong). Photo: Nguyen Thanh Hai