Vietnam has many favourable conditions for agricultural development, inwhich tea is one of the products with significant advantages, theVietnam Business Forum Magazine (VBF) has said.
But for a longtime, the Vietnamese tea industry has not had a good structure andclear, consistent strategies. How to improve the quality andsustainability of the tea industry is the main issue of the conferencerecently held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD), Unilever Vietnam and some international consulting organisationsin Hanoi.
According to statistics of the Department of CropProduction (MARD), in 2013, the country’s tea area was 135,300 hectares,of which tea used as raw material for processing was 128,200 hectares,fresh tea 7,200 hectares.
Fresh tea yield reached 79.5quintals/ha, equivalent to 2012. Bud tea production reached 909,700tonnes, export value reached 222 million USD. In the first 3 months of2014, Vietnam exported 24,000 tonnes of tea, earning 37 million USD.
TheDepartment of Crop Production also announced that in period 2005-2013,12 new tea varieties have been recognised for production. Advancedfarming techniques are currently being applied nationwide, such aserosion control, reasonable planting and mechanised tea picking (6,000machines).
Despite favourable weather conditions and having hightea planting and harvesting output compared to the world, Vietnam teahas not established itself under global quality standards to elevateexport value. Therefore, at this conference, Unilever reportedoperations of the project "Mainstreaming smallholder farmers intohigh-quality and sustainable tea supply chain in Vietnam" deployed fromJanuary, 2014.
Accordingly, the project is aimed to increaseproduction of Rainforest Alliance certified tea in Vietnam and improvesustainability in terms of economy, environment and society ofsmall-scale tea households and tea factory owners in Vietnam.
Theproject has the participation of provinces such as Phu Tho, TuyenQuang, Lam Dong, Yen Bai, Vinh Phuc, Nghe An and 30 tea factories and20,000 households, with the budget of 440,000 EUR.
However,Flavio Corsin, an agricultural expert, Director of IDH Vietnam saidthere are many inadequacies in Vietnam's strategic development directionfor the tea sector. In particular, the tea industry structure incentral and provincial levels is limited. There is no consensus betweenpublic sector and private sector in improving the quality andsustainability of the tea industry. Besides, the production efficiencyin plants remains low, while management boards of a number of plants arenot really interested in tea production certification. Some teacompanies want to produce in accordance with the State’s standards butfunds are still limited. Currently, many factories which have lowproduction efficiency based on standards issued by the state, plantstype C (do not reach requirements), type B (medium) are allowed for teaproduction.
Another problem is that management boards of somefactories do not pay enough attention to certified tea productionbecause the uncertified tea market accounts for a large proportion oftheir business. Some tea companies want to apply the State’s standards,but they do not have enough capital to invest in equipment.
Besides,the number of factories investing in material areas made up for 35.5percent, while the number of factories applying ISO and HACCP standardswas16 percent. Therefore, the main tea product structure focuses onblack tea OTD, CTC, but not green tea, oolong tea or high quality teaproducts. Enterprises have not built the tea brand, leading to lowexport tea price and limited added value.
According to Ministerof Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, today's teaproduction of Vietnam is not commensurate with the potential. Moreover,the tea export price in Vietnam is very low. Objectives in the mediumand long terms are to increase tea production for export in Vietnamthrough helping tea farmers and selected tea factories to achieve aminimum of 4.0 in the quality index.
Currently, Vietnam’s exporttea reached only 3.6 of quality index, so, to achieve 4.0, Vietnam needsto implement measures such as establishing a tea industry coordinationcommittee based on the coffee coordination committee, with theparticipation of relevant ministries (Ministry of Planning andInvestment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry ofIndustry and Trade) and provincial agencies (local representatives withlarge area of tea production).
Besides, tea factories type B or Cshould be alerted and trained to gradually improve the effectiveness inaccordance with State standards. The country needs to accelerate thecertification for tea factories. At the same time, Vietnam also needs todevelop incentives to stimulate certified factories (not just VietGAP).The incentives may include technical support, improving capital access,and lower taxes. Through existing farming channels, the Governmentshould disseminate the sustainable tea production to the wholecommunity.
Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association Nguyen Huu Taisaid that one of the underlying causes for the decline of tea qualityas well as competitive export value of Vietnam's tea industry is due tobreaking down value chain link in tea production for a long time,especially after 2005.
Besides, the waste in manufacturingprocesses at the tea plants also causes the reduction of tea productionefficiency. Thus, the radical solution in the near future is having abalanced strategy of material areas providing for plants and there needsto be legal manufacturing contracts among farmers and collectingplants.-VNA
But for a longtime, the Vietnamese tea industry has not had a good structure andclear, consistent strategies. How to improve the quality andsustainability of the tea industry is the main issue of the conferencerecently held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD), Unilever Vietnam and some international consulting organisationsin Hanoi.
According to statistics of the Department of CropProduction (MARD), in 2013, the country’s tea area was 135,300 hectares,of which tea used as raw material for processing was 128,200 hectares,fresh tea 7,200 hectares.
Fresh tea yield reached 79.5quintals/ha, equivalent to 2012. Bud tea production reached 909,700tonnes, export value reached 222 million USD. In the first 3 months of2014, Vietnam exported 24,000 tonnes of tea, earning 37 million USD.
TheDepartment of Crop Production also announced that in period 2005-2013,12 new tea varieties have been recognised for production. Advancedfarming techniques are currently being applied nationwide, such aserosion control, reasonable planting and mechanised tea picking (6,000machines).
Despite favourable weather conditions and having hightea planting and harvesting output compared to the world, Vietnam teahas not established itself under global quality standards to elevateexport value. Therefore, at this conference, Unilever reportedoperations of the project "Mainstreaming smallholder farmers intohigh-quality and sustainable tea supply chain in Vietnam" deployed fromJanuary, 2014.
Accordingly, the project is aimed to increaseproduction of Rainforest Alliance certified tea in Vietnam and improvesustainability in terms of economy, environment and society ofsmall-scale tea households and tea factory owners in Vietnam.
Theproject has the participation of provinces such as Phu Tho, TuyenQuang, Lam Dong, Yen Bai, Vinh Phuc, Nghe An and 30 tea factories and20,000 households, with the budget of 440,000 EUR.
However,Flavio Corsin, an agricultural expert, Director of IDH Vietnam saidthere are many inadequacies in Vietnam's strategic development directionfor the tea sector. In particular, the tea industry structure incentral and provincial levels is limited. There is no consensus betweenpublic sector and private sector in improving the quality andsustainability of the tea industry. Besides, the production efficiencyin plants remains low, while management boards of a number of plants arenot really interested in tea production certification. Some teacompanies want to produce in accordance with the State’s standards butfunds are still limited. Currently, many factories which have lowproduction efficiency based on standards issued by the state, plantstype C (do not reach requirements), type B (medium) are allowed for teaproduction.
Another problem is that management boards of somefactories do not pay enough attention to certified tea productionbecause the uncertified tea market accounts for a large proportion oftheir business. Some tea companies want to apply the State’s standards,but they do not have enough capital to invest in equipment.
Besides,the number of factories investing in material areas made up for 35.5percent, while the number of factories applying ISO and HACCP standardswas16 percent. Therefore, the main tea product structure focuses onblack tea OTD, CTC, but not green tea, oolong tea or high quality teaproducts. Enterprises have not built the tea brand, leading to lowexport tea price and limited added value.
According to Ministerof Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, today's teaproduction of Vietnam is not commensurate with the potential. Moreover,the tea export price in Vietnam is very low. Objectives in the mediumand long terms are to increase tea production for export in Vietnamthrough helping tea farmers and selected tea factories to achieve aminimum of 4.0 in the quality index.
Currently, Vietnam’s exporttea reached only 3.6 of quality index, so, to achieve 4.0, Vietnam needsto implement measures such as establishing a tea industry coordinationcommittee based on the coffee coordination committee, with theparticipation of relevant ministries (Ministry of Planning andInvestment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry ofIndustry and Trade) and provincial agencies (local representatives withlarge area of tea production).
Besides, tea factories type B or Cshould be alerted and trained to gradually improve the effectiveness inaccordance with State standards. The country needs to accelerate thecertification for tea factories. At the same time, Vietnam also needs todevelop incentives to stimulate certified factories (not just VietGAP).The incentives may include technical support, improving capital access,and lower taxes. Through existing farming channels, the Governmentshould disseminate the sustainable tea production to the wholecommunity.
Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association Nguyen Huu Taisaid that one of the underlying causes for the decline of tea qualityas well as competitive export value of Vietnam's tea industry is due tobreaking down value chain link in tea production for a long time,especially after 2005.
Besides, the waste in manufacturingprocesses at the tea plants also causes the reduction of tea productionefficiency. Thus, the radical solution in the near future is having abalanced strategy of material areas providing for plants and there needsto be legal manufacturing contracts among farmers and collectingplants.-VNA
