(HBO) - Not only blessed with a cool climate and beautiful landscapes, Pa Co commune in Mai Chau district is also renowned for its centuries-old Shan tuyet tea trees. Local residents have taken efforts to preserve the local unique traditional tea processing method to create a distinctive flavour that cannot be found anywhere else.
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Dung Y Thuy’s
family in Cha Day hamlet, Pa Co commune plants nearly 1.5ha of tea trees, which
brings a stable income of 200 -250 million VND (8,500 – 10,600 USD) each year.
Preserving traditional craft
Growing tea trees has been a part of the daily
life and culture of the Mong people in Pa Co for hundreds of years, and the tea
production sector also evolved from that.
The tea production process has become much
simpler with the support of machinery. However, many households in Pa Co still
preserve the traditional manual tea roasting method.
To produce a quality batch of tea, it is
recommended to pick the leaves early in the morning before 10 am and after 3
pm, said Sung Y Thuy in Cha Day hamlet.
Pa Co tea specialty
For a long time, Pa Co dried tea has been
popular in and outside the province, commanding a relatively high price. The
product has helped improve the livelihoods of local tea growers.
Planting tea trees not only brings high economic
value but also contributes to promoting experiential tourism development in the
locality.
Visitors to Pa Co are often amazed at and
delighted to explore ancient tea trees, and experience the traditional tea
production process of the Mong people community.
Nguyen Van Khanh from Hanoi said he is impressed
at the traditional tea production process of Mong people in Pa Co.
Phang A Song, Chairman of the Farmers'
Association in Pa Co commune said the tea roasting process takes a considerable
amount of time.
"It takes 2-3 hours to produce a delicious and
flavourful tea products that embodies the sweet and bitter taste of Pa Co tea”,
he said.
Developing Pa Co tea brand
Pa Co commune is home to 82ha of tea, including
over 200 ancient Shan tuyet tea trees. Thanks to the natural care process, the
ancient trees generate good-quality products, bringing high income to local
farmers.
Nguyen Phi Long, an alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee, and head of the steering committee for the province's key projects, chaired a conference on March 25 to discuss measures for implementing the project on constructing the Hoa Lac - Hoa Binh road and upgrading the Xuan Mai - Hoa Binh section of National Highway 6 under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Administrative reform has been identified as a key priority in enhancing state governance, improving the business environment, and facilitating services for citizens and enterprises.
The Standing Board of the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee met on March 18 to review and guide major investment projects aimed at boosting local socio-economic development.
The air is thick with the hum of drills and the clatter of machinery as the Hoa Binh – Moc Chau expressway takes shape amid the rugged terrain. Welding sparks illuminate the faces of workers, and concrete mixers churn relentlessly, laying fresh pavement on the newly-carved road. The construction site buzzes with a palpable sense of urgency, particularly in Hoa Binh province where the expressway's future is being forged.
The northern province of Hoa Binh, with over 467,000 hectares of natural forest and more than 100,000 hectares of production forest, holds significant potential for carbon credit market development.
Replacing substandard houses with more sturdy ones by June 30 is the direction given by Nguyen Phi Long, alternate member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee, at a meeting held in early March by the provincial Steering Committee for the programme to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses for the needy.
