On the afternoon of November 8, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Giang province coordinated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to organize a workshop to launch activities to support the development of Shan Tuyet tea in Ha Giang, according to Project HTKT 6776 - VIE - improving institutional capacity for implementing the overall project for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period 2021 - 2030.

At the workshop, ADB's expert introduced the proposed content of technical support activities for the Shan Tuyet tea industry in Ha Giang in the period of 2023 - 2024, including 5 contents: policy building and development; building a database for the Shan tea industry in Ha Giang; promoting the development of high-value Shan Tuyet tea products; supporting the establishment and capacity building of the Ha Giang Upland Shan Tea Association; strengthening the competitiveness of enterprises producing and processing Shan tea in Ha Giang.

At the meeting, participants identified priority of the program and proposed measures and assistance forms to expand the area of organic Shan tea production areas according to European standards, to expand the scope of support for the Shan Tuyet tea area in the northern districts of Ha Giang, to name the beneficiaries of support.

They also discussed a mechanism to support the renovation and preservation of ancient and old tea gardens; support the assessment and improvement of the quality of Shan tea OCOP products and the competitiveness of tea processing enterprises; support businesses and cooperatives to change technologies, production lines, and processing equipment...

ADB representatives and officials of the Ha Giang Department of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized that the content and program of the workshop aimed to discuss, exchange and propose implementation contents to support the development of Shan Tuyet tea in Ha Giang, develop a detailed plan of project implementation activities in the period 2023 - 2024.

Based on opinions of experts and participants, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Giang province and ADB will develop a draft plan to implement project activities in accordance with the needs and practical conditions of Ha Giang.

Building a Ha Giang Shan Tuyet tea product value chain

Ha Giang is known as the key tea production region of Vietnam with a total area of more than 20,300 hectares, ranking third after Lam Dong and Thai Nguyen provinces. The Shan Tuyet tea area is estimated at more than 18,600 hectares, accounting for 90.28% of the province's tea area. Annually Ha Gaing harvests an output of over 55,000 tons of Shan Tuyet tea from nearly 14,000 hectares. In particular, the province has over 7,000 hectares of ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees of hundreds of years old or more. Typical examples include the ancient tea tree populations in Cao Bo commune (Vi Xuyen district), Nam Ty commune, Ho Thau commune (Hoang Su Phi district), Lung Phin commune (Dong Van district).

From 2019 to 2022, Ha Giang conducted studies on the conservation, exploitation and sustainable development of ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees, associated with the development of eco-tourism, experiential tourism, and community cultural tourism to increase value and create higher income for tea producers.

Accordingly, the province has promoted the development of eco-tourism, experiential tourism and community tourism and tried to attract investment in eco-tourism areas in the areas with ancient Shan Tuyet tea such as Hoang Su Phi, Xin Man, Vi Xuyen…

In 2022, the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Nature and Environment recognized 1,324 Vietnamese Heritage Tea Trees. So far, Ha Giang has had 1,629 heritage tea trees in the districts of Bac Quang, Quang Binh, Vi Xuyen, Hoang Su Phi, and Xin Man and becomes the locality with the largest number of Vietnamese Heritage Trees.

This has a particularly important meaning in preserving and developing rare tea varieties, which is an important premise for improving the economic value of tea and promoting the development of tourism to experience tea areas. Because these heritage trees all have unique cultural and historical values, associated with the lives of ethnic minorities living in the area.

In order to sustainably develop Shan Tuyet tea, Ha Giang has implemented specific policies to build an organic Shan Tuyet tea value chain from the viewpoint of: taking businesses as the subjects and farmer households participating in the value chain through linked chains, creating a closed cycle from production to processing and trading of products. This is a favorable condition for the value chain of Ha Giang Shan Tuyet tea products to develop, and affirm the potential, strengths, and brand of Ha Giang Shan Tuyet tea in domestic and foreign markets.