Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam Review - No 528 December 2002)

Ha Giang Province
Area: 7,884.3 sq.km
Population: More than 600,000 people comprising 22 ethnic groups including the Kinh, Tay, H’Mong, Dao, Nung, Cao Lan, Hoa, San Diu, and other groups.
Geography: Ha Giang Province is located in the northern mountainous border area. It borders China in the north, Tuyen Quang Province in the south, Cao Bang Province in the east, and Yen Bai and Lao Cai Provinces in the west. Administrative units: It has Ha Giang Town and nine districts of Dong Van, Meo Vac, Yen Minh, Quan Ba, Bac Me, Hoang Su Phi, Vi Xuyen, Xin Man and Bac Quang.

Once, I closed my eyes and imagined how Ha Giang Province was. Fortunately, later I had an opportunity to see this province which boasts immense mountains including Tay Con Linh Mountain, 2,149m high, primitive forests, poetic Dong Van Plateau and the attractive Khau Vai love market. However, this beautiful province is poor. It has great potential, but how to stir this potential to develop the province into an affluent area is the question.

Ha Giang Province has not only vast areas of green tea and terraced rice fields but also rich natural resources and minerals. There are 149 mines with 28 categories of minerals scattered in all districts. There are large deposits of antimony, iron ore, manganese, ferrite, zinc, tin, copper, bauxite, gold, gemstones, kaolin and mineral water, all constituting an abundant source of raw materials for the local industrial development. Knowing the value of its potential the Province has implemented open and favourable policies to attract domestic as well as foreign investors from China, South Korea, Thailand and other countries to participate in the mining and processing industries. Its target is to help the mining and mineral processing industries reach an annual growth rate of 20%.

The mountainous and hilly terrain causes difficulties for travel and transport of goods, but in return it bestows beautiful tourist sites with dozens of rivers and streams, fascinating caves and grottos, historic and cultural relics and a treasure of traditional cultures of the ethnic groups, which all enchant the visitors. However, investment in local tourism meets many difficulties. Ha Giang Province wants to take decisive steps, but it lacks money. Therefore all steps have been taken slowly.

Ha Giang Province runs 33 villages and a border town with 270-plus km of border with China. It has a national border gate, namely Thanh Thuy, and three smaller ones, Pho Bang, Xin Man and Sam Pun. In recent years revenues from the border trade increased drastically, reaching USD 46.1 million in 2001. However, only Thanh Thuy border gate brought great revenue, especially when the State allowed it to apply a border economic policy. Ha Giang Province plans to continue the construction and development of these border gates, making them a local strong point.

In the past years the Province invested heavily in the development of tea, which is considered a spearhead plant to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty in this area. Since 1995 the Province has paid special attention to the cultivation of tea, especially the Shan Tuyet strain, as a producer of quality product. Due to the policies of giving loans with preferential interest rates for each household to grow tea for 3-4 years and providing technical guidance in sowing, tending, gathering and processing, the tea output has increased gradually, from 9,625 tonnes in 1995 to 20,394 tonnes in 2002. Located at an altitude of over 1,000m, Lung Phin in Dong Van District and Nam La in Yen Minh District serve as special tea-cultivation areas. In the initial years of tea production all households engaged in growing tea in these areas were exempted from taxes. Those businesses that invested in tea production and processing were granted loans with preferential interest rates for the first two years. Ha Giang tea is now consumed at home and abroad.

In Hoang Su Phi District, a highland area, the tea plant, especially the Shan Tuyet strain has really changed the face of the rural areas. Nguyen Huu Chi, Chairman of the District People’s Committee said: “We define the cultivation and processing of tea as a priority. The District has drawn up a detailed plan for each area and called for businesses to invest in the development of the tea processing industry. If the businesses make wise investments, the value of the tea crop will increase and the people’s life will improve”. He also said that it is easy for tea plants to grow here. The growers did not need to use any fertilizer and they only need to trim the plants once to pick the leaves. That’s why this clean tea product has won high acclaim from the US and Japanese markets, especially when it is scented with jasmine flowers. Due to tea cultivation the locals’ life has improved much greater when compared to soybean cultivation. In Nam Ty area for instance, a household with fair income earned from VND 6 million upward/person/year while a household with low income earned VND 2-3 million/person/year. The family of Phan Ta Khe, a man of the Dao ethnic group is among the families who became rich from growing tea. Several years ago he invested nearly VND 70 million in purchasing a system of machines to process tea. On average each day he processes 2 tonnes of fresh tea leaves, which he buys from other households in his commune. In Hoang Su Phi District there are Thang Long and Yen Binh tea companies, which serve as the consumers of the locals’ products, giving encouraging signals to the ethnic people in the difficult mountainous areas. To continue developing tea cultivation areas Ha Giang Province has implemented a tea development project from now to the year 2006, with ADB-granted loans of USD 3 million.

At present Ha Giang Province has 2,194 households engaged in the farming economy (growing oranges and mandarin trees), and each household works on 2-plus ha and earns good income. Some households earn from VND 150 to 200 million a year. The soybean cultivation areas in the Province have also increased gradually, reaching 7,900 ha now. Most of the cultivation areas have been planted with new strains, which yield an output of 750 kg of soybean per ha.

The socio-economic situation in Ha Giang Province has changed, with the average food per capita increasing from 296 kg in 1996 to 340-plus kg now. Investment for education has received due attention. 100% of children at school age go to school. The Province has essentially eliminated illiteracy and universalized primary education. It has roads suitable for cars leading to all communes and hamlets. This is a prerequisite to promote trade between the plains and mountainous areas and facilitate the transport of tea and rice from the growers to the consumers. In return the growers will get more income. That is one of the essential reasons for the decrease in the rate of hungry and poor households in Ha Giang Province to below 18% compared with 22% in 1999.

With great potential, an attractive investment environment and practical policies aimed at encouraging and providing favourable conditions for all economic sectors to develop, Ha Giang Province has made rapid strides, step by step escaping from hunger and poverty.