Thai Nguyen (VNA) – The northern province ofThai Nguyen plans to invest over 220 billion VND (9.7 million USD) indeveloping sustainable tea production.

Of which, about 150 billion VND (6.6 million USD) is sourcedfrom the province’s budget, while the rest is mobilised from enterprises,organisations and individuals, among others.

The amount will be used to help improve the productivity andquality of tea, thus enhancing the value and competitiveness of Thai Nguyen teaproducts whose production value is estimated at 3.75 trillion VND (165 millionUSD) by 2020.

Under the programme, 3,900 hectares will be zoned off forproducing tea materials in Thai Nguyen city, Dai Tu, Dong Hy, Phu Luong, DinhHoa and Vo Nhai districts and Pho Yen town.

Infrastructure facilities will be built to serve hi-tech teaproduction while investing in planting and replacing 4,400 hectares of high-yieldand high-quality tea trees.

Funding will be disbursed to certify over 300 hectares ofclean tea trees in line with such standards as VietGAP, and 50 tea productionfacilities meeting food safety requirements each year.

A focus will be placed on developing and managing Thai Nguyen’stea trade mark while establishing cooperatives in tandem building chain valuesbased on the connection between production and consumption.

According to Director of the provincial Department ofAgriculture and Rural Development, Ngo Xuan Hai, the province has over 21,100hectares of tea trees, with 80 percent of the area have applied safe productionmethods and good agricultural practices.

There are 43 cooperatives with the involvement of over 60,000households from 140 trade villages. They earn over 100 million VND (4,400 USD) perhectares of tea trees per year.

The programme is expected to create jobs and stable incomefor over 300,000 labourers while contributing to ecotourism development and environmentalprotection, Hai said.

Thai Nguyen has shipped its tea products to Pakistan, Taiwan(China), Russia, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.-VNA