Quang Tri: Efforts to promote and preserve ancient tea gardens

Hanoi (VNA) - The century-old ancient tea gardens in Cam Lo district, the central province of Quang Tri, have significantly contributed to the promotion of tourism and economic development in the locality.

Visiting Cua and getting lost in the ancient, tall and green tea gardens feels like being lost in a fairy land. Sturdy, mossy tea trees have witnessed many of the great historical moments of this land.

Cua is a basalt red land in Cam Lo district. It covers Cam Nghia and Cam Chinh communes. There are still many old tea gardens here, aged between 70 and 100 years old. Many trees were planted more than 150 years ago.

This land is home to tens of hectares of rubber and pepper. However, when industrial crops were not yet developed here, the green tea is the most important crop and creates significant income for local residents.

For a long time, ancient tea gardens have been a pride of locals.

Hoang Thi Thoai’s in Mai Trung village is one of the households with many of the oldest tea trees in Cam Chinh commune. Her family's garden now has over 100 ancient tea trees aged more than 100 years and hundreds of decade-old ones. Her family earns about 30 million VND (more than 1,300 USD) from the tea garden per year on average.

With its fragrance and deep taste, this tea is very popular among Quang Tri people.

The ancient tea tree seems to have been born for this land. This variety has been cultivated in many places but it finds it difficult to thrive.

The trees here rarely need to be fertilised or irrigated, but they still grow up to be strong, solid and full of vitality.

In Cam Chinh commune, there are more than 100 households that cultivate ancient tea trees, with many of those owning hundreds of tea trees aged over 100 years.
To harvest leaves from these ancient tea trees, it is necessary to climb a ladder as each tree has a height of up to 10m and a diameter of 30-40cm.

For Cua villagers, ancient tea trees not only bring economic profit but also represent the resilient will of local people. A cup of fresh tea is indispensable to the daily life of local people.

Each kilogramme of fresh tea leaves is sold for 4,000-6,000 VND.

In recent years, local authorities and villagers have intensified efforts to preserve the ancient tea trees in the area.

The 80-year-old Nguyen Thi Tien in Mai Trung village, Cam Chinh commune, said her family's trees are over 120 years old. Many people have offered to buy them at the price of 7-10 million VND per tree but Tien always shakes her head as she considers the trees her family members who have witnessed all their joyful and sorrowful moments.

Today, many new tea areas can be seen alongside ancient orchards.

Secretary of the Party Committee of Cam Chinh commune Nguyen Thanh Lam emphasised the role of the tea trees in tourism and economic development of the locality, saying that the local administration has called on locals to pay special attention to preserving ancient tea gardens as well as maintaining the quality of the trees.

The locality has planned to develop spiritual tourism programmes and the brand “Cua tea”, as well as make the most of the strengths of local agricultural products and services, he said./.