Report Feasibility study organic bitter tea Cao Bang - Helvetas

7.4. Conclusions
Feasibility Study Organic Bitter Tea in Cao Bang: 2007
The key conclusion from the feasibility study is that there is excellent potential for the
production of organically certified bitter tea in Cao Bang.
BTC management and local authorities, through the DOST, appear to be very supportive to
organic production. The DOST also indicated that the province could support the
conversion to organic provided that it can be demonstrated that organic production will
bring benefit to the farmers.
To achieve organic certification the bitter tea and any other crops should be grown to
comply with organic standards.
The use of fertilizer and pesticide inputs is relatively minimal and could be substituted with
acceptable organic inputs and farming practices.
In many cases the bitter tea and other crops are grown in such close proximity that the risk
of contamination from the other crop to the tea is too great. If it is not possible to convert
the entire farms to organic, appropriate measures should be taken (in the form of buffer
zones) to avoid contamination of the organic bitter tea from chemicals used in the other
crops.
The most cost effective way to organize organic certification for small holders is through a
group certification programme that requires all the farmers in a group to be farming all
their crops organically.
It is most practical to set up a unit that will only process organic bitter tea. All the farmers
supplying to this unit must be certified organic. Otherwise a parallel production issue will
arise which is difficult to manage in an ICS.
Costs for external certification are relatively high when three certificates are needed.
However, it seems possible to recover the investment through a reasonable increase in the
export price for the bitter tea (20%). Volumes of bitter tea required to recover the cost of
certification are between 1000 - 1150 kg based on the number of certificates needed and the
Euro - US dollar exchange rate.
Since the demand for organic bitter tea from the BTC is not very clear, it may be good to
start with a trial on organic bitter tea production. Key aspects of the trial would be to test
the use of organic fertilisers, particularly compost and green manure cover crops, and
organic pest and disease management. It would also be worthwhile to test whether bitter tea
would grow well under shade.
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