Pham Thi Anh feels happy looking at ranges of green tea trees running down the hill slopes in front of her house. The tea trees, a traditional plant of her homeland in Dong Hy district of Thai Nguyen provinces promised Anh a better life. Things have changed since she jointed a tea quality management program initiated by the Netherlands Development Organization SNV five years ago.
In the past, like many farmers in Khe Mo commune of the district, Anh often faced difficulties in planting and selling tea. Anh thought she could have tea leaves of better quality if she spread more pesticides or fertilizers. But she was wrong. As her family’s tea quality was not ensured, in some harvest seasons, she could sell fresh tea leaves at the price of only VND 800 per kilo, not enough to cover production costs. Even though, sometimes she was not able to sell all products. “Our life was so hard then” – Anh recalled.
But in this hilly commune, mostly populated by ethnic minorities of Nung, Dao, San Diu and Tay, it is not easy to change from tea to others plants. Suitable land, climate and traditional habits have made local farmers not to abandon the tea trees. Tea has remained the main earner, accounting for 70 per cent of income in many households in the locality. However, how to really survive by growing tea trees had remained a big question for many.
The answer, however, seemed to appear for Anh and others farmers in the commune when they were united in a chain of tea growers, businesses and local state agencies under SNV’s initiative. In early 2004, the organization started a supportive program for the tea industry in Thai Nguyen provinces in term of tea cultivation, processing and marketing. It means that tea must be ensured systematically “from farm to tea cup”.
“Everybody in the chain should implement their commitments and bear responsibilities. If things go smoothly, the model will help marking the local tea products more competitive” – said Vu Quynh Anh, a SNV’s senior officer.
Under the program, Anh and other individual tea growers set up an Integrated Pesticide Management (IPM) club, which now consists of 24 members. They hold regular meetings, in which they share information about production, purchasing policies of tea businesses and policies of local concerned authorities. Under SNV’s program, experts from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Plant Protection Department are invited to Khe Mo commune to deliver basic lessons on seeds, pests, cultivation skills, processing techniques, marketing, and much more for the club members.
“These training courses are very helpful. Previously I though the more fertilizer I put, the better quality I could gain. But this way only bitter my tea which I sold difficultly to businesses. There are many simple skills that I only got to know when I participated in the IPM club” Anh said.
The most essential thing is that all the club members have stable output for their tea products due to proper cultivation. They can sell their products to Song Cau Tea company, a state-owned enterprise based in the commune through contracts. Fresh tea leaves are sold at the price of VND 2,500 per kilo. “We always need clean materials to ensure good quality products. So we want to buy tea leaves from the IPM club” – Nguyen Van Bo, the company vice director said.
Bo said it war not easy to purchase good quality tea leaves for the factories although there were many tea growers in the locality. Thus, the company holds many meetings with IPM club members to discuss about market tendency and helps them to plant most needed tea leaves. “We really want more IPM clubs”, Bo said.
Anh’s club is one among five IPM clubs in Dong Hy district with 173 members in total, which were set up with supports of SNV. Although these clubs started operation not long ago, their members’ lives have considerably improved. A recent survey discovered that poverty rate among the members had fallen to 30 per cent currently from 50 per cent before the club.
In Thai Nguyen province, the centre of Vietnam’s tea industry, tea has been planted and processed for centuries. The SNV’s model, which mobilizes everybody into a system to maximize their power, is clearly a new one in the provinces. In the future, the IPM club model will surely be expanded as the organization is hurriedly helping developing a tea development strategy for Thai Nguyen’s tea industry. More and more farmers will certainly benefit from the program as their products are ensured from “farms to teacup”. Programs of this kind have helped Vietnam achieving poverty reduction targets ahead of its commitments in Millennium Development. “Now I got to know what to do with my tea farms. I think from now on my family can live on tea trees” – Anh said with a smile.
M.N
Vietnamese
