A tea farm in Tan Son District, Phu Tho. The northern province will pour VND118 billion into developing a tea brand. — Photo phutho.gov.vn

Phu Tho will pour VND118 billion (US$5 million) in implementing policies to develop tea plantations and build a tea brand for the northern province, Deputy Chairman of the People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Hai said.

Despite being among provinces with the largest tea plantation area, Phu Tho’s tea products were not very well-known in the market.

Hai said that the province would reorganise tea processing plants to ensure the association with tea plantation areas together with improving processing technology to improve the product quality.

The effort of trade promotion to expand markets and build a brand for Phu Tho tea would also be enhanced, Hai said.

Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Tu Anh said that to develop a sustainable tea industry, it was critical to build a value chain from tea growers to processing plants and distributors to control product quality.

The provincial Department of Science and Technology was building a project for developing a certified brand for Phu Tho tea products, which aimed to control the products’ origin and quality as well as increasing added value of tea products. The project was expected to be completed this year.

Phu Tho has more than 16,000 hectares of tea with an estimated output of 184,000 tonnes, more than 30,000 tonnes higher than 2014.

Phu Tho ranked fourth by tea plantation area and third by output in the country.

Tea was mainly grown in Thanh Ba, Ha Hoa, Doan Hung, Thanh Son, Tan Son and Yen Lap districts.

Many tea products of Phu Tho were exported to India, China, Germany, the UK, Pakistan, the US, the Netherlands and Japan. — VNS