Building a brand from safe tea production

With the goal of improving the quality of raw tea, aiming for a sustainable production process, and increasing value on the cultivated area, Cam My Tea Cooperative, Tat Thang commune, Thanh Son district applies the tea cultivation according to VietGAP safety standards and implementing organic tea growing techniques, which has brought effective results.

Stemming from the need to link households to produce on a larger scale, according to higher standards, in 2018, Cam My Tea Cooperative was established. From a cultivation area of nearly 10 hectares, up to now, the cooperative has a tea growing area of 30 hectares, of which 15 hectares are VietGAP certified. In the early stages of implementing safe tea cultivation, members and households associated with the cooperative in production must become familiar with keeping records to track all activities affecting the tea fields, from checking, watering and harvesting tea ... to using biological active ingredients, time, dosage and cross-monitoring between households. The cooperative focuses on guiding members on soil improvement, manure composting techniques, and use of microbial and biological organic fertilizers. The tea growing area is planned to be intercropped with woody trees, with a large canopy to shade the tea plants; a sprinkler irrigation system is installed to save water and ensure water supply for raw tea. The cooperative signed a contract committing to purchase and consume all fresh tea buds from members and people in the local area at a stable price, with an output of about 240 tons of fresh tea buds per year.

From the supporting capital sources and efforts of the cooperative, the cooperative invested in building a factory, using modern machinery for production, ensuring automation of over 70% of production stages such as: Tea gas dryer, electric dryer, vacuum cleaner...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Cam My - Deputy Director of the Cooperative said: "Since the establishment of the Cooperative, the process of growing and caring for tea according to VietGAP and organic standards has been chosen by the Cooperative to develop tea areas associated with brand building. With the standardization of production processes, machinery is gradually invested synchronously, so the products are of good quality, the cooperative is certified with ISO 22000:2018 food safety management system. In 2022, the Cooperative is granted the right to use the Phu Tho Tea Brand by the Department of Science and Technology. This is the motivation for us to further improve product quality, comply with regulations related to the production process, the use of certification marks, commitment to maintain and ensure product quality, protect and develop the intellectual property value of the Phu Tho Tea certification mark".

The cooperative currently has 2 tea products that meet OCOP 4-star provincial standards. In 2023, the cooperative was praised by the Central Vietnam Farmers' Union as one of 63 typical agricultural cooperatives nationwide. The cooperative’s got a revenue of 2.5 billion VND in 2023, earning a profit of 350 million VND.

In the coming time, the cooperative will continue to consolidate and perfect the tea production and consumption chain associated with brand building; Promote the application of science and new technology in tea processing in an industrial and modern direction with a scale suitable for production. Applying technology, digital transformation, especially e-commerce applications in product promotion and consumption, helps products better penetrate the market.

Nguyen Hue