Located 125 kilometres from Da Lat City, Bao Lam has tropical to subtropical climate with annual rainfall of 2,500 – 3,000 millimetres. Most land areas in Bao Lam are covered by brown and reddish brown Ferralit on basalt stones, dacite and shale which are suitable for industrial perennial crops, especially tea. However, in 2000, tea cultivation area in Bao Lam was less than 9,000 hectares, most of which was old and stunted tea variety, with productivity of over 38.7 thousand tonnes.
Bao Lam District annually spends 2 percent of the local budget developing tea material zone and improving tea variety. Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is proposed to provide 1-2 million seeds of steam tea per year. The District has also quickly delimited agriculture – forestry, aiming at sustainable agriculture in which tea becomes a sustainably valuable product of domestic consumption and export in the long term. Besides, the District has also taken full advantage of internal and external resources; gradually completed transportation network and irrigation systems to favour production and good circulation; concentrated on reforming procedures and policies for investment and agricultural extension; reasonably regulated agricultural land-use tax and other policies on mountainous and ethnic minority areas, farmer’s access to capital, and long term capital for enterprises, thereby establishing a nurturing environment for production and consumption. Especially, Bao Lam District has opened the door for national and international investors to promote tea material, production, processing and consumption zones.
Thanks to an open legal framework for investment, especially domestic investment, Bao Lam has rapidly attracted many enterprises to invest in the district’s tea industry. Thus, the area of high quality tea has rapidly increased to 13,187.5 hectares, in which more than 12,457.3 hectares has been harvested. At the moment, according to Lam Dong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bao Lam has the largest tea area of high tech production with 1,450 hectares of high quality tea and 700 hectares high yield stem tea invested by 19 domestic and foreign enterprises and farmer households having technology, capital and labour, a breakthrough for local plantation of high yield tea. Prime enterprises are Cau Tre Export Goods Processing Joint Stock Company, Minh Rong Tea Joint Stock Company, Vien Dong Investment Development Trading Corporation, and Huynh Mao Company. Annually, tea enterprises in the district have contributed thousands of billions of VND to the Budget and created jobs and income for thousands of local labours.
Bao Lam district’s potential for tea development is huge. It is believed that with open policies, and preferential conditions for enterprises and people to invest and promote tea material, processing and export zones, tea will always be the key cash crop for Bao Lam District Party Committee, Authority and residents.
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