Vietnam is a growing country, Tea production and processing, Tea area and production ranked second 5 but productivity ranks second 3 in total 50 Tea producing countries in the world. Now, our country has 34 the provincial, Tea growing city with a total area 123 thousand hectares of tea, productivity is near 95 quintal / ha, higher than five 2018 was 4,4 quintal / ha, output reached 1,02 million tons of fresh bud tea. Export volume reached 136 thousand tons, value reached 235 million dollars. The years, Tea is a fairly sustainable production plant, contribute positively to poverty reduction for mountainous people, especially in some specialty tea production areas, is a tree enrichment for the people.

Thai Nguyen, Currently the province has the largest tea area in the country, Current tea area is estimated at 22,500 ha; estimated productivity 119 quintal / ha, fresh bud tea production was reached 230 thousand tons. The years, Thai Nguyen province has stepped up the restructuring of tea varieties, Application of science and technology in production. Now, Most of the tea area in the province has been produced in a safe manner, Organic; Processing is also focused, diversify products. With that, The province has stepped up construction, promotion, tea consumption; The province's tea products have been affirmed in domestic and international markets, thereby helping to alleviate poverty, Increase income for tea producing households.

However, many delegates to the conference said that, There is still room for tea development, especially the increase of added value of tea; awareness, invest, direct and organize tea production among different provinces, there are places where one hectare of tea reaches prison value 500 come 800 million dong / year, But there are places not yet reached 100 million dong / ha / year; production link, Processing unsatisfactory; Tea production associated with tourism is still weak.

At the conference, Discussions of localities focused on proposing solutions to remove difficulties in breeding work, production, processing stage, market development… with tea industry. Some suggestions are from the Plant Protection Department, The National Center for Agricultural Extension was also presented at the conference.

The common view of the unit itself, tea development is highly effective in association with agricultural restructuring.

In order for the development of tea industry to be truly sustainable, the scale of tea growing area must be suitable to the requirements of the domestic and export markets., The area is arranged in conformity with the ecological and cultural traditions, at the same time must be able to compete on economic efficiency with other crops in the area.

Delegates visit tea production model in Tan Cuong commune, Thai Nguyen City

Speaking at the Conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh suggested: In the coming years, tea area will be stable, but must increase the added value of tea and tea products. Therefore, Provinces need to re-evaluate production status, business, invest, command, organization of production, process, consume, export. In order to improve the quality of tea, processing should be speeded up, link; Tea product segment, The word is then associated with selecting and processing tea; development attention, improve the quality of new products, but also to improve the quality of traditional tea products.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh assigned the Department of Crop Production to develop a sustainable tea development project in the context of restructuring the agricultural sector., which define clear goals, There is a policy for tea plants. The Department, service, institute, The relevant university is responsible for the research, Proposing related issues to develop tea plants.

Than 3 last year, Nhat Minh Agricultural Service Cooperative in Krong Ana District, Dak Lak Province has started accepting ST24 rice cultivation at the orders of the seed supplier.. At that time, ST24 rice is still quite new and not widely known, so the supplier just temporarily called it "new generation RVT" and the price is equal to the price of RVT rice.. This variety has long elongated grain characteristics, Delicious rice quality, The productivity of the cooperative in specialized wet rice areas is much higher than that of RVT, to 11 tons of fresh rice / ha (RVT is average 9,5 tons of fresh rice / ha).

After the successful test rice crop unexpectedly, The cooperative gradually expanded ST24 rice cultivation area. ST24 rice prices gradually increased compared to other hybrid rice varieties to help farmers feel more secure, exciting. Mr. Nguyen Van Tuong, Director of Nhat Minh Agricultural Service Co-operative commented, compared to the rice varieties the unit has cultivated before, like ST24, adapt well, No significant pest or disease arising, Especially, chrysanthemum disease was not seen often causing damage to people in the summer-autumn crop. Recognize the high insect resistance properties of this variety, summer-autumn crop 2019, Cooperatives have converted 2 ha from traditional farming to full use of organic practices, biology with the orientation to build own rice brands for cooperatives. Time of harvest, ST24 rice is again "sought" by consumers after the effect of the "World's Best Rice Award" of ST25 rice. (Because ST25 rice is not yet on the market). So, The entire ST24 rice production produced by the organic process of the cooperative is quickly consumed at high prices, Many units have long-term supply orders.

Winter-spring 2019 – 2020, members of Nhat Minh Agricultural Service Cooperative 15 ha organic rice and more 270 ha of rice is cultivated according to normal procedures. Inside, Organic ST24 rice is purchased higher 1.000 VND / kg, Help members directly benefit from the application of safe manufacturing processes, lasting. First step, The cooperative also hired agricultural engineers to prepare its own organic process, supervise the production process to build the cooperative's own brand of rice. These are important steps for cooperatives to separately plan organic production areas in the field, meet the increasing demands of fastidious customers.

At the field of Ya To Mot commune (Ea Sup district) ST24 rice has also been successfully grown by the Ea Sup Poverty Reduction Cooperative towards organic production. Immediately after news of ST24 rice, ST25 achieved great success at the World World's Best Rice Contest 11, Ea Sup Poverty Reduction Cooperative sent members and farmers to Engineer Ho Quang Cua's house (Soc Trang province) to understand the cultivation process and buy rice seed. Here, Members of the delegation are invited to try it out 3 Plate of cooked rice from ST21 rice, ST24 and ST25 only sign with numerical order for everyone to choose the best rice dish. Coincidentally, most people opt for a plate of rice cooked from ST24 rice by a sweet grain of rice, fragrant, plasticity, Soft though doesn't change much size after cooked.

After that trip, Ea Sup Poverty Reduction Cooperative has started cultivation 2,5 ST24 ha in the organic direction and in association with Thanh Cong Agricultural Service Cooperative (Ea Sup district) grow 25 ST24 ha ha follow the normal procedure in the winter-spring season 2019 – 2020. Experimental yield of ST24 rice grown according to conventional procedures in Ya To Mot commune field is not inferior to other hybrid rice varieties, reach on 7,5 tons of dry rice / ha. With organic farming model, ST24 rice adapted and grew well, There are no pests and diseases and although the yield is only approx 75% compared to conventional farming, but the quality of rice after cooking is much better.

All ST24 rice production is provided by Ea Sup Poverty Reduction Cooperative to partners in the provincial markets, into the North and its own sales channel. Hence, The co-operative has been subsidizing farmers with higher prices than other rice varieties at the same time. Mr. Nguyen Thai Son, Director of the Poverty Reduction Cooperative Ea Sup said, The encouraging results are an important premise for the cooperative to build a chain of high quality rice production in Ea Sup district, Continue to expand ST24 rice cultivation area, especially rice cultivated by an organic process.

Can see, with many outstanding advantages of rice quality, high adaptability and resistance to pests and diseases, ST24 rice has brought remarkable economic efficiency in the areas of specialized wet rice cultivation in the province. This is a chance “yellow” so that the agricultural cooperatives in the rice fields invest to improve the value, build credibility, The brand to capture the high quality rice demand of the domestic market has many potentials today.

(Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)