Impact of Conversion to Organic Tea Cultivation on Household Income in the Mountainous Areas of Northern Vietnam

Abstract

This study aims at determining if organic tea farming results in higher net income than conventional tea farming in the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam. Our sample includes 226 traditional and 319 organic tea-producing households in the provinces of Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho, Ha Giang, and Lai Chau. Using a propensity score matching approach, the study finds that the adoption of organic tea production had a positive impact on households’ farm income in the study area. Using different matching algorithms, organic tea adopters earned higher income than did non-adopters, from 1038.8 to 1059.0 thousand Vietnamese Dong (VND) per hectare of cultivation plot. To increase conversion to organic tea farming amongst smallholder farmers, the government and other stakeholders should aim to provide better extension services, which incorporate relevant training to farmers and better access to information on organic tea production, as well as encouraging the commercialization of organic fertilizers. Simultaneously, the Vietnamese government should introduce mechanisms to coordinate production activities and deliver tea products to processing and/or marketing facilities.

Could the Production of Green Agricultural Products Increase Farmer Household Income? - An Empirical Analysis on Farmer Households in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

“…Qiao et al [16] conducted a questionnaire survey among organic farmer households in Wanzai County, Jiangxi Province, China, and discussed the impact of organic APs production on farmer household income through variance analysis and multiple comparisons, revealing that organic APs production pushes up the income of small farmer households. With the aid of propensity score matching (PSM), Doanh et al [17] assessed the impact of organic tea production on farmer household income in Thailand, and demonstrated the positive effect of organic tea production on household agricultural income in the study area: each household received 202,000VND more benefits per hectare.…”

Voluntary Sustainability Standards and the Sustainable Development Goals

“…The clearest positive income and, based on fewer examples, environmental effects seem to relate to the adoption of "organic" standards in farming, as production costs and yields tend to be similar to conventional production (or even more favourable) while sales prices are higher, according to a number of recent impact studies. This leads to higher profits and/or household income for farmers (but not necessarily for their workers, who are not specifically looked at) across different commodity and country samples such as rice from northern India (Eyhorn, van den Berg, Dedock, Maat, & Srivastava, 2018), strawberries from central Brazil (Resende Filho et al, 2017) and tea from northern Vietnam (Doanh, Thuong, & Heo, 2018). As for these three reports, two of them do not specify under what type of scheme organic farms were certified.…”

Formulasi bioinsektisida Bacillus thuringiensis isolat indigenos untuk pengendalian Hyposidra talaca pada tanaman teh (Formulation of indigenous isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis bioinsecticide to control Hyposidra talaca on tea)

“…Di samping dapat meningkatkan kesuburan tanah dan memberikan sumber hara bagi tanah, pada jangka ke depan, sistem perkebunan teh organik mampu menurunkan energi yang tidak dapat diperbaharui, dan merupakan usaha untuk mitigasi pemanasan global melalui penurunan kehilangan emisi karbon. Selain itu harga jual teh organik lebih tinggi hingga 30% dari harga teh biasa (Doanh et al, 2018).…”

“…Penelitian Doanh et al (2018) menunjukkan bahwa diperlukan waktu tiga tahun atau lebih dalam masa peralihan dari sistem penanaman teh konvensional menjadi organik. Namun demikian, penurunan produktivitas dapat dikurangi dengan menggunakan produk-produk bioteknologi yang unggul yang telah teruji.…”