Mr Si used to struggle to earn a living as a tea farmer, but now his product is in high demand and he has tripled his income.
Mr Si has grown tea on the steep slopes of his remote village in Da Bac, Vietnam, since 2003. However, up to now, he rarely made a profit because he had to use traditional techniques that are time- and labour-intensive.
“I was still making tea but in a traditional way with only the pan and drying the tea in the sun,” he said.
“I didn’t have much profit because the processing took so long and the amount of tea was so little.”
Finding new business opportunities
When Mr Si’s village opened up to tourism in 2016, he saw a new market for his tea.
We helped Mr Si purchase equipment to make tea for tourists and increase his income. The new equipment not only slashed his processing time by over a week, but also increased the quality of the product.
“I can pick the tea and have it packaged in one day rather than 10,” he said. “I sell the tea to tourists, but mostly to businessmen in Da Bac and Hanoi.”
Mr Si has increased his earnings by threefold and he now employs his neighbours to help harvest the tea, boosting incomes for all.
The benefits of tourism
Our Community-based Tourism (CBT) project helps ethnic minority families in Vietnam start new tourism businesses, such as homestays.
CBT also creates new markets for courageous people like Mr Si. Tea growers, traditional performance groups, local guides, textile producers, and transport groups have sprung up to support local tourism industries. This has created jobs and income that help the whole community on its journey out of poverty.
Donate now to help more people like Mr Si earn a decent income in Vietnam.
