Elevating Tea Plants Linked with Tourism Development

Tea plants have long served as one of the key crops, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction across Phu Tho province. According to statistics, the entire province currently has approximately 14.5 thousand hectares of harvesting tea land, concentrated in localities with traditional tea-growing traditions such as Tan Son, Thanh Son, Cam Khe, Thanh Ba, and Thanh Thuy (former)...

High-yield, high-quality tea areas account for over 95% of the province’s total tea area. Among these, hybrid tea varieties such as LDP1, LDP2, and PH1 primarily serve black tea processing for export to Middle Eastern and Asian markets.

Concentrated tea zones in Minh Dai, Long Coc, Thanh Ba, Thanh Son, and Tu Vu contribute to elevating production value and income for thousands of households.

Beside tea varieties serving black tea processing, specialty tea varieties such as Kim Tuyen, Bat Van Tien, and Oolong are utilized to process green tea—meeting diverse market demands. This also serves as a vital raw material source to develop OCOP products.

Applying modern machinery and equipment in tea harvesting in Minh Dai commune contributes to elevating product yield and quality.

The entire province currently features 593 OCOP products rated 3 stars or higher, including nearly 100 tea-based products. Notably, among recognized OCOP-rated tea products, over 20 products reached 4 stars and 1 product achieved 5 stars. This serves as an important foundation to elevate value, expand consumer markets, and affirm the Phu Tho tea brand.

Numerous tea products achieving OCOP 3-star certification or higher are present at supermarkets and commercial centers, step-by-step expanding export markets.

With over 1,000 tea production and processing establishments, each year Phu Tho supplies domestic and international markets with hundreds of thousands of tons of black tea alongside hundreds of tons of green tea, generating significant revenue for tea growers and processing facilities.

Quy Le tea product achieved 3-star OCOP certification in Long Coc commune, contributing to building a clean tea brand and creating consumer trust.

To elevate the value and competitiveness of the Phu Tho tea brand, the province deployed synchronized solutions—from planning and raw material zone development to product promotion and intellectual property protection, with a focus on developing the certified brand “Phu Tho Tea”. Through this, the province’s tea brand is step-by-step affirmed in domestic and international markets.

Capitalizing on hill land advantages in mountainous localities, the tea-growing trade creates jobs, elevates income for thousands of households, and contributes to rural economic development.

Concurrently, Phu Tho province encourages localities, enterprises, and cooperatives to invest in technology innovation and strengthen production linkages to proactively secure raw material sources and control product quality. Building and developing product brands linked with intellectual property protection, alongside expanding safe tea production and processing models following VietGAP standards in areas with suitable soil conditions, are also emphasized.

Developing eco-tourism and resorts combined with tea hill sightseeing and experiences is opening new directions in tea regions such as Long Coc and Minh Dai.

Particularly, tea production models under the “Quality and Safety Enhancement for Agricultural Products” (QSEAP) Project have been deployed across key former districts, contributing to creating foundations for commodity tea zone development in the direction of elevating quality and added value.

Many new tourism products linked with tea plants have been formed, promising job creation and generating optimal economic value across tea regions.

In recent years, many localities have also focused on deploying solutions to develop tea plants toward elevating quality, increasing value, and linking with tourism development—contributing to shifting agricultural economic structures and improving citizens' living standards.

Tourists visiting and experiencing the Long Coc commune tea region contribute to promoting local distinct landscapes and tourism products.

In localities possessing tea strengths such as Long Coc and Minh Dai, tea plants are identified as key crops while serving as crucial resources for experiential tourism development. Lush green tea hills, distinctive landscapes, and traditional production activities create conditions to build tourism products linked with farming experiences, learning processing workflows, and enjoying local tea products.

Promoting natural landscape advantages and concentrated raw material zones, combined with infrastructure investment, digital transformation applications, and deep processing development, localities are step-by-step elevating tea plant value sustainably. Linking tea production with tourism development not only expands livelihoods and generates new income sources for citizens, but also contributes to promoting images and constructing distinct tourism highlights for Phu Tho.

Minh Tu