Located in the northern part of Lac Thuy district, with a temperate climate and fertile soil, Phu Thanh commune has great potential and advantages in growing tea. The long-standing experience, combined with strict adherence to organic farming practices in the tea gardens, ensures that the dried tea products from Phu Thanh and Lac Thuy as a whole are sold out immediately upon production, providing a stable and prosperous life for the local people.
Thanks to growing tea, Bui Van Linh's family in Tan Phu village, Phu Thanh commune, has a stable income of around 300 million VND per year.
Currently, Phu Thanh has over 130 hectares of tea. Identifying tea as the key crop that brings high and sustainable economic value, in recent years, local authorities have promoted and encouraged residents to apply organic methods to their tea gardens. This includes using biological fertilisers and plant protection products, using water-saving irrigation systems, and introducing mechanisation in harvesting to replace manual labour.
Bui Van Linh, a local tea farmer, shared that his family currently has 1.4 hectares of tea, which has been planted for over 15 years. The current price is from 200,000 VND to 250,000 VND (9,68 USD) per kilogram of dried tea. With this area, after deducting expenses, his family earns a profit of nearly 300 million VND per year.
As the tea plantations gradually adapt to the new farming methods, the economic benefits are evident, with significant reductions in care costs compared to using chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Currently, Phu Thanh commune's fresh tea bud yield is between 20-25 tonnes per hectare. After deducting costs, tea growers make an average profit of over 200 million VND per hectare per year.
The dried tea products from Lac Thuy district have been recognised by the provincial People's Committee as a 4-star OCOP (One Commune, One Product) product and have received trademark certification from the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam. To protect and enhance the value of the "Song Boi Tea" brand, the district continues to direct the application of advanced science and technology in production. It is also encouraging residents to convert crops with low productivity into tea plantations, and paying attention to promoting the "Song Boi Tea" brand to assert its position with both domestic and international consumers, helping farmers increase their income and reduce poverty.
A delegation of Hoa Binh province has attended the "Meet Korea 2025" event, recently held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea (RoK) in Vietnam, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, and the People's Committee of Hung Yen province.
Hoa Binh province joined Vietnam’s national "One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) programme in 2019, not simply as a mountainous region following central policy, but with a clear vision to revive the cultural and agricultural values in its villages and crops.
From just 16 certified products in its inaugural year to 158 by early 2025, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme in Hoa Binh province has followed a steady and strategic path. But beyond the numbers, it has reawakened local heritage, turning oranges, bamboo shoots, brocade, and herbal remedies into branded, market-ready goods - and, more profoundly, transformed how local communities value and present their own cultural identity.
"Behind every One Commune One Product (OCOP)-starred product lies a quietly operating support system: technical staff, experts, trade fairs, and e-commerce platforms. OCOP cannot go far without forward-looking policy support," affirmed Nguyen Huy Nhuan, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Hoa Binh province.
The economic landscape of Hoa Binh province continued its impressive upward trajectory through the first four months of 2025, according to a recent report from the provincial Department of Finance. The local authority has directed departments and sectors to keep close tabs on growth scenarios for each quarters and remove bottlenecks, striving to complete the set growth targets.
As part of efforts to restructure and accelerate the development of its industrial and handicraft sectors, Hoa Binh province is focusing on the development of industrial parks (IPs) and industrial clusters (ICs) with synchronous infrastructure to attract strong investment.
