Report Feasibility study organic bitter tea Cao Bang - Helvetas

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Feasibility Study Organic Bitter Tea in Cao Bang: 2007 An external consultant specialised in organic agriculture and certification and one Helvetas staff conducted the study. The study included a document review and a field trip to Cao Bang (November 6-10, 2007). The field trip, in which staff from the BTC also participated, included visits to: Nguyen Binh district: meet farmers planting bitter tea on sloping land, local collectors, and district authorities. Na Giang village, Ha Quang district: meet farmer households planting bitter tea in paddy field and on sloping land, meet Mr. Nhan – specialist on bitter tea Visit Cao Bang Bitter Tea Company: meet company management and visit bitter tea processing workshop and nursery at Km 3, Cao Bang. Debriefing with bitter tea company management and product quality management office in DOST Visit market places selling Cao Bang and Chinese bitter tea and interview clients Note: the visit to Dong Khe district to see the bitter tea processing workshop and to meet farmer households planting bitter tea in the forest was cancelled due to bad road conditions. A list of the persons met is given in Annex 1. 4. BITTER TEA VALUE CHAIN 4.1. Supply Chain The bitter tea supply chain in Cao Bang is relatively straightforward, with a limited number of actors involved. The supply chain is summarized as follows (distributors are not included since they were not part of this study): Inputs (NPK, seedlings) Producers Collectors Processing (km 3 unit) Packaging (BTC head office) 4.1.1. Producers Bitter tea production in Cao Bang takes places throughout the entire province. A total of around 4000 households is currently producing bitter tea, with a total area of 1380 ha.. Originally, bitter tea was harvested from wild stands growing in the forest. However, currently production is almost entirely from cultivated bitter tea. The older bitter tea gardens (around 1000 ha in the whole province) are characterised by a low density of planting, with some 3,200 trees/ha. There was not much investment in these fields and, as a result, production was low. Farmers harvested mostly leaves. In 2007 the provincial bitter tea project started to encourage farmers to intensify production. The density of planting was increased to 10,000 trees/ha and the level of inputs was also increased. Both seedlings and fertilisers was subsidized by the project. Farmers are now mostly harvesting buds (or better said "two leaves and a bud", just as in "normal" tea). - 5 -
Feasibility Study Organic Bitter Tea in Cao Bang: 2007 Farmers from all districts in the province supply to the BTC. Focus of production is currently on three districts, in particular Nguyen Binh. Farmers are not organised but sell directly to the BTC as individuals. Total production sold to the BTC during 2007 was nearly 10 tons of fresh leaf (bud). Farm production is in the order of 1 - 1.5 ton of buds/ha/year for the low density plantings. For the high density plantings this is higher, up to 3 - 4 ton/ha/year. Prices received by the farmers from the BTC for one kg of buds is 15,000 VND/kg. 4.1.2. Input supply Limited external inputs are used in bitter tea production. From data collected in the survey it seems that these inputs (mainly chemical fertilisers and planting materials) are also almost entirely provided by the BTC. Planting materials is coming from the nursery set up as part of the provincial bitter tea development project. Input support to farmers is only for the first year. After that, farmers are supposed to buy all inputs at full cost price . 4.1.3. Collectors Farmers deliver the tea directly to the BTC or through a collector. In each of the districts there is one collector. BTC staff estimated that 60% of the tea delivered to the company goes through the collectors. 4.1.4. Bitter tea company (BTC) The BTC has a head office in Cao Bang town and a processing unit at km 3 in Cao Bang. Previously, there was also a processing unit at Dong Khe but at the time of the feasibility study this unit was being closed down and equipment was moved to the BTC head office. Processing of the tea is being done at km3, while packaging is done at the head office. The BTC collaborates with the local extension service to contact farmers and to get information which farmers are interested in planting bitter tea. Training and other support to bitter tea growers is done by the BTC directly and here the extension service does not play a major role. 4.2. Inputs The following section focuses on the use of inputs in the bitter tea production, with particular reference to their application under the organic standards considered for this report (EU, Japan and South Korea). This section is based on information collected during the survey as well as on data from the field visit by Daniel Valenghi to Cao Bang in May 2007 (see Annex 2). A summary of findings is given in Table 1 at the end of this chapter. 4.2.1. Variety and planting material (including nursery management) There are no specific varieties for bitter tea. However, the material used by the farmers supplying to the BTC is rather uniform since it for a large part originates from the nursery set up under the bitter tea project. Under the organic standards considered, seeds and planting material used for organic production should be from organic origin. This requirement can easily be met once bitter tea is being grown organically. Nurseries could be set up that produce planting material from organically grown "mother" trees. - 6 -
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Report Feasibility study organic bitter tea Cao Bang - Helvetas

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