Report Feasibility study organic bitter tea Cao Bang - Helvetas

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1. INTRODUCTION Feasibility Study Organic Bitter Tea in Cao Bang: 2007 Cao Bang province is known as being a poor, remote, mountainous area with 77% of its total area covered by forest. 86% of the area’s population earns its livelihood from agriculture and forestry. However, Cao Bang has a favourable climate and forest area suited to the development of bitter tea, a high value medicinal plant. In the frame of its community based Governance, Extension, Marketing project in Cao Bang (CB-GEM), Helvetas Vietnam supported the Bitter Tea Company in Cao Bang to carry out a rapid market appraisal which identified many strengths and weaknesses of the bitter tea market. The CB-GEM project then supported the company to establish an action plan to improve the bitter tea market situation. One of the identified topics of this action plan is to carry out a feasibility study of organic bitter tea production in Cao Bang. The results of this study should then be used by the decision makers to decide if it would be worth or not to start a certified organic production for a specifically identified market. 2. BACKGROUND 2.1. Context of Cao Bang Province Cao Bang is a mountainous province with diversified agro-ecological conditions located in the North of Vietnam. It borders China along more than 300 km. It has a total area of some 6700 km², in which about 77% is covered by forested hills and low mountains (500–1000 m, with some reaching 1900 m). Therefore, Cao Bang possesses great potential for the development of natural resources and high-value agricultural and forestry products. Cao Bang has a total population of 513,700, where ethnic minority communities make up more than 95% of the total population across seven different ethnic groups (Cao Bang Statistics Office, 2005). It is one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam, ranked 60th in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) index and the 50th in the poverty index out of 64 provinces of Vietnam (UNDP, 2005). Agricultural production is the most important and dominant economic sector. It provides the main livelihoods of the population and it is considered that it will be the province’s economic foundation for the next 20 years (IFAD, 2006). 2.2. Background information on bitter tea Bitter tea is the name for a beverage obtained from various species of the plant genus Ilex. In Vietnam, bitter tea (or "cha dang") is obtained from Ilex kaushue, which is distributed in the North of Vietnam, mainly in Cao Bang province but also in Ha Giang and a few other provinces. In China, two groups of plants were traditionally being utilized for bitter tea (or "Ku Ding Cha"): several Ilex species and the wax tree (Ligustrum robustum). Today, it is estimated that more than 90% of the Ku Ding Cha used in China is from an Ilex, mainly Ilex kudingcha (though other Ilex species, such as Ilex latifolia, may be used), while several species of Ligustrum are substituted in Sichuan Province and in Japan. (Dharmananda, 2002). Both in Vietnam and China the leaves of bitter tea are prepared and consumed in a way similar to green tea. In South America many species of Ilex are used for several popular tea-like beverages. Ilex paraguariensis is used to make yerba mate. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd is an extremely common social practice in many South American countries - 1 -
Feasibility Study Organic Bitter Tea in Cao Bang: 2007 but also in Syria and Lebanon. Ilex guayusa is used both as a stimulant and as an admixture to the hallucinogenic tea "ayahuasca". The leaves of I. guayusa have the highest caffeine content of any known plant in the world. In North and Central America, Ilex vomitoria was used by the Native American Indians as a ceremonial stimulant and emetic known as the "black drink". As the name suggests, the tea's purgative properties were one of its main uses, most often ritually. (Wikipedia) Research at the Triet Giang Agriculture University in China found that there are 16 amino acids belonging to saponin compounds in fresh bitter tea leaf. These amino acids strengthen the metabolic process in the human body and are closely related to the body’s nutrition structure. Other scientific investigations defined that leaves and buds from bitter tea contain many ingredients that can effectively: reduces blood lipid and cholesterol levels regulates blood pressure enhances bile excretion has a tranquillizer effect assists heart function, and inflammation relief has a detoxifying effect, and alcoholic toxin relief stimulates digestion have a diuretic effect In China, Ku Ding Cha has been known for hundreds of years and was first described in 1765 in the "Bencao Gangmu Shiyi". One of the main growing locations for Ilex is in Guangxi Province of south-western China. The oldest Ilex tree is found growing there: it is about 30 meters high and has grown for centuries. Guangxi has about 1,400 hectare of Ilex kudingcha trees under cultivation. In 1997 an Institute was established in Guangxi to research and develop Ku Ding Cha and other local medicinal plants (Dharmananda, 2002). Ilex kaushue is an evergreen tree species that grows in the natural forests in Cao Bang. Its height varies from 20-30m and the diameter is up to 0.6m. The moist, limey and rocky mountain areas above 600m are suitable for bitter tea growing. In 1996, Chinese buyers purchased a vast quantity of fresh bitter tea leaves and young branches collected from the Cao Bang forests, and started intensive production campaigns in China oriented especially to local and export markets. In Vietnam, national and provincial researchers started investigations on the medicinal properties of bitter tea. Moreover, large cultivation and reforestation with this evergreen tree could help protect watershed areas, the soil and the environment. Since Cao Bang has large areas of forestland and a favourable climate for bitter tea growing, the tree has been considered as a potential cash crop to help Cao Bang farmers escape from poverty. The Vietnamese government, particularly the Cao Bang provincial authorities, then started with a bitter tea plantation project program (under DOST) and the opening of a factory in Cao Bang (the BTC under DOST). The province has invested in the development of bitter tea plantation, processing and marketing. Cao Bang bitter tea has gradually become well-known particularly in the local market and apparently also has a high potential for the export market (EU, Japan and Korea). However, these markets have not been targeted very intensively yet, mainly because of a lack of bitter tea supply (which does not - 2 -
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