LamDongProvinceBuilding Vegetable and Tea Brand Names

Da Lat and its people have been strongly associated with vegetable growing since the early decades of the 20^th century. Ha Dong vegetable village was set up in 1938 to meet the demands of local people. Through the changes of time, local people have continued growing vegetables on this land. In 2006, Lam Dong’s vegetable area was estimated at over 31,000 hectares with total capacity of more than 800,000 tonnes, including various vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, potatoes, salad, green pepper, onion, celery, asparagus, green peas and artichoke. Da Lat vegetables are consumed not only in Da Lat and Lam Dong, many other localities in the country are big consumers of Da Lat vegetables. Moreover, foreign markets including Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong also consume Da Lat vegetables.

According to Lam Dong Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Centre, the province is now home to about 44 producers, including 12 vegetable exporters. Some pioneering companies in Lam Dong, including Tam Chau, Thai Bao, Ngoc Duy and Vinh Tien have built their own brand names with promotion programmes and goods marketing methods. These companies have reaped good results, successfully building their product’s brand name on the market. Commodities labelled “Vietnamese high quality goods” are favoured by consumers.

 

In order to support local businesses, Lam Dong Tourism – Trade Department has instructed Lam Dong Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Centre to develop and carry out programmes to build brand names for Da Lat vegetables and bulbs. Since late 2006 four bodies, including Lam Dong Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Centre, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Science and Technology, and the Da Lat people’s committee teamed up to develop these new programmes. They supported farmers and businesses in improving cultivation techniques and product quality as well as building trademark rights. Products meeting the requirements will be labelled with Da Lat Vegetable’s logo as a guarantee of quality. The coalition among four bodies to build the brand name for Da Lat vegetables is a good start. The path ahead is still long, but opportunities are being opened for Da Lat vegetable producers.

 

According to statistics, Lam Dong leads the country in tea area, productivity and output. The province has over 25,000 hectares of tea, accounting for 21 per cent in area and 27 per cent in tea output of the whole country. Lam Dong cultural festival 2006, Vietnam’s tea culture festival, is a chance not only to popularise Vietnam’s tea brand name, but for investors and enterprises to seek cooperation after Vietnam’s WTO accession. On this occasion, the Vietnam Tea Association’s 3^rd meeting opening in Da Lat defined quality as the top priority.

 

Farmers and businesses in Lam Dong have started to plant clean and safe tea. Ladotea Suzuki Tea Joint Venture Company has pioneered planting tea without using chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The company uses organic fertilizer and a biological compound, namely Neem, to protect tea.

 

Currently, Bao Loc town and Bao Lam district, two key tea areas in the province, started building a safe tea planting model. Building of safe tea material zone involves using solutions to prevent pandemics on tea trees, limiting the use of chemical fertilizers and encouraging the use of biological compounds and parasites in pestilent insect prevention. The director of Lam Dong Tea Company Mr Doan Trong Phuong said the company and its members have been developing production and building the tea material area. Lam Dong Research and Industrial and Fruit Tree Technical Transfer Centre has piloted the clean tea material area model in Bao Loc and Bao Lam, with strict cultivation requirements.

 

Of the total tea area, Lam Dong has planted over 20 per cent sprig tea and about 1,800 hectares of high quality tea to produce and process tea with oolong technology, in which Bao Lam accounts for 50 per cent of high quality tea area (mainly in Loc Tan commune). In the process of expanding export markets, Lam Dong has taken advanced technology of Japan, Taiwan and European countries to replace and renovate its methods. Lam Dong Tea Company and joint stock companies such as Ha Giang, Minh Rong, Di Linh 1/5 and Cau Dat have renovated their technology and installed new equipment to process high-quality oolong tea and other products in accordance with market demand. Lam Dong has built the hi-tech tea material area, high-quality tea zone and safe tea area. The province aims to have 28,000 hectares by 2020, including 55 per cent high quality tea and high-yield tea.