Applying Digital Technology for Sustainable Development of Tea Industry

Recently, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) cooperated with Facebook Group (now Meta Group) and Thai Nguyen Provincial Cooperative Alliance to organize a webinar "Solutions to business restoration and competitiveness improvement for Thai Nguyen tea enterprises in the digital economy".

Speaking on the webinar, Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Tam, Deputy Director of the SME Promotion Center, VCCI, said: “In order to flexibly adapt to new situations, in addition to the Government's supportive policies, tea enterprises actively innovate, apply science and technology, digital technology, develop along the value chain, ensure safe raw materials and tea products meeting the prescribed quality standards of the domestic market and promote export. These are among the necessary directions and solutions for the sustainable development of the tea industry in the coming time."

To achieve the goal by 2025, the area of ​​tea certified for safety will be increased to 55% and about 75% by 2030, the area of high-quality tea will be increased to 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2030. The enterprises will control the quality of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and especially plant protection drugs; 100% of tea production establishments are granted certificates of food safety conditions according to regulations. Export value is expected to reach US$300 million in 2025 and US$400 million in 2030. The management agencies and specialized agencies need to manage the raw tea area well, ensuring the existing tea area. Along with that, localities and enterprises in the tea industry need to actively apply digital technology, implement science - technology projects, and agricultural extension for safe tea production and processing.

As one of the key tea regions of the country, at present, Thai Nguyen province has 22,400 hectares of tea. The average yield is over 123.7 quintals/ha and the output is over 244,400 tons. Tea has become a famous specialty of Thai Nguyen and won an international record for "Asian valuable specialties". Not only being distributed and consumed in the domestic market, Thai Nguyen tea has now been exported to many countries and territories around the world such as Russia, the US, Japan, Canada, European countries, and Middle East countries.

However, according to Ms. Vu Thi Thu Huong, Vice President of Thai Nguyen Cooperative Alliance, the development of tea plants in Thai Nguyen still faces certain difficulties, especially the tea area under VietGAP process, GlobalGAP, UTZ Certified and organic tea is still low and accounts for only 20% of the total province. The investment in tea plant development and tea processing is still largely performed by households, which has not yet attracted much capital from domestic and foreign enterprises investing in production, especially investment in processing. Many tea exporters are not really interested in improving the quality of their products, so the price of raw tea for export is only US$4-4.5/ kg. The activities of trade promotion, brand promotion, investment promotion are still limited. In order to overcome these limitations, continue to develop tea trees in a sustainable way and enhance the value, Thai Nguyen is synchronously implementing many solutions in the direction of increasing investment, effectively exploiting the potential and strengths of tea on the basis of applying advanced science and technology in production and processing.

Mr. Ruici Tio, Asia-Pacific Policy Program Manager, Facebook Group (now Meta Group), shared that he is proud to be a long-time partner of the SME Promotion Center, VCCI, to implement the Boost with Facebook program in Vietnam from 2017 up to now. “The seminar in Thai Nguyen is the first focused program dedicated to the tea industry that we run and thereby emphasizes the importance of helping small and medium enterprises in digital transformation. We use digital tools to innovate and test new ideas, and leverage the power of precise targeting through advertising to reach new customers and export to international markets,” Mr. Ruici Tio said.

This is the 5th year that SME Promotion Center- VCCI cooperates with Facebook (now Meta Group) to implement the Boost with Facebook Program in Vietnam.

D.B (Vietnam Business Forum)