Tea in Yen Bai province has increasingly affirmed its quality and yield in the past years thanks to its focus on cultivation techniques. In order to raise tea value, Huu Hao Tea Company Limited based in Tran Yen district has boldly invested in technology and machinery to help the local tea access more markets.
Utilizing its large hilly cultivated area, favorable soil conditions, fresh and cool climate in the highlands, for decades, farmers in Yen Bai’s localities like Tran Yen, Van Chan and Nghia Lo districts have made tea a cash crop of high value. Therefore, the livelihoods of ethnic minorities here are getting better and better.
In the past, people used to manually process tea on a small scale. The product was mainly sold to merchants cheaply and unstably. For that reason, local authorities have issued many projects and programs to improve tea value. One of the solutions is encouraging enterprises to cooperate with farmers to produce tea.
Huu Hao Tea Co., Ltd has effectively implemented this model. Director Nguyen Trong Huu said: “Product quality is always a top priority of the company. Since its inception, the company has paid attention to building close relationships with tea growers to have premium inputs. In 2004, Huu Hao Tea Company was one of the first investors of tea processing lines powered by India's CTC technology. This advanced technology has enabled organic tea processing to ensure hygiene, safety and automation and allowed it to boost output and reduce human costs and product costs.”
Despite the competition from other tea processors in Yen Bai and other provinces, Huu Hao Tea Co., Ltd always uses premium inputs and adopts buying prices accommodative to farmers. Tea cultivation is laborious and growers need good livelihoods from tea cultivation, he added.
Mr. Huu himself used to struggle with tea for years in many localities. To be trusted and adopted by the market, the cleanliness, safety and quality of tea must be ensured, he said, adding that he had discussed with tea growers to adopt tea criteria.
In addition, determining the market is an important factor for the company to stand firm and continue development. Over the years, the company has always intensively searched and expanded the market for product consumption, regarded this as a decisive business stage. The company management has always been active to capture and process information on domestic and international markets for products. Currently, in addition to the domestic market, the company's products are also sold strongly in fastidious markets such as Japan and South Korea. The company has diversified its customer base.
Despite being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the company was still able to maintain its production output, sales and export. Not only focusing on business, Huu Hao Tea Co., Ltd also takes good care of the employees' lives. The firm ensures all regulatory benefits for employees. It has also given due attention to occupational safety and health. All employees are equipped with sufficient labor protective equipment and personal protective equipment at work.
The income of tea growers and its employees has been raised. The positive reception of international customers has confirmed the effective cooperation it is currently pursuing. These are good signs for the company to globalize Yen Bai tea.
By Nguyen Tung, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
