Harvesting tea in the middle of summer, a rare event in Ha Tinh

(Baohatinh.vn) - In previous years, in the summer, people in the old Huong Tra commune, now Huong Do, Ha Tinh province had to struggle against drought for their tea plants and had no harvest, but this year, they are still picking steadily.

The family of Mr. Nguyen Van Bich - Mrs. Le Thi Ly (in Tay Tra village, Huong Do commune, Ha Tinh province) grows 5 sao of industrial tea in association with the 20/4 Tea Enterprise ( Ha Tinh Tea Joint Stock Company). After nearly 20 years of growing tea, this is the second year, since 2017, that tea has been harvested in the summer. Therefore, Mr. Bich - Mrs. Ly and tea growers in the commune are very excited.

Mr. Nguyen Van Bich shared: "For the first time in 8 years, tea has been harvested in the summer. Not only does it save money on electricity to pump water to irrigate the tea, but it also brings in extra income, so everyone is confident in investing in production."

Households in Huong Do commune are excited to harvest tea in the middle of summer.

Normally, from May, growers in Huong Do start focusing on drought prevention, so tea productivity in May and June decreases by more than half; in July and August, there is no harvest due to the hot weather, the plants cannot bud. This year, in the summer months, tea is still harvested with stable productivity like the spring tea crop: 2 - 2.5 quintals/sao/month.

Mr. Tran Cong Quang - Director of 20/4 Tea Enterprise said: “In previous years, people mainly focused on taking care of the plants during the summer months, but this year the harvest has been steady. This result is partly due to favorable weather, there have been no prolonged heat waves, so the tea buds have developed very well. On the other hand, this year, we have brought mini tea picking machines into the harvest, which has solved the labor problem for people. More importantly, using a picking machine will help the tea plants recover from damage and produce buds faster, with higher productivity. According to calculations, picking by hand takes from 7 to 12 days for the tea plants to bud, while picking with a mini machine only takes from 6 to 9 days.”

Huong Do tea is green in the middle of summer.

Huong Do Commune currently has 320 households growing industrial tea with an area of 148 hectares associated with the 20/4 Tea Enterprise, with an average annual production value of 22 billion VND. It is worth noting that the tea here has met VietGAP standards, qualified for export to Middle Eastern countries.

Before 2022, tea yield reached 9 - 9.5 tons/ha, then from 2023 it reached more than 11 tons/ha and is expected to reach about 13 tons/ha in 2025, exceeding the set plan.

Huong Do commune leaders surveyed the tea hills.

Talking about the development orientation in the coming time, Mr. Nguyen Van Luan - Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: "The new Huong Do was merged from the three old communes of Huong Do, Huong Tra, and Loc Yen. This is an advantage for us to encourage people to increase production area in the coming time and the commune will build and issue timely support policies to develop industrial tea trees combined with eco-tourism ".

Tea production combined with new rural tourism experience is a promising direction for Huong Do commune.

The fact that industrial tea trees in Huong Do commune are harvested during the summer months not only brings joy to growers but also shows the right direction in applying science and technology to production. At the same time, the government and people here are continuing to enhance the value of tea trees by forming new rural tourism areas.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/thu-hoach-che-giua-mua-he-chuyen-it-thay-o-ha-tinh-post292715.html