Unilever promotes sustainable tea development in Vietnam

News/Hanoi - I wish this partnership great success and will become an example of PPP in agriculture in
Vietnam. - Bui Ba Bong, MARD’s Vice Minister

The parties ink the landmark tea initiative

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (mard) and Unilever in Vietnam have signed the official MOU on the Vietnam Tea Initiative which aims to promote sustainable tea development in the country.

As a public-private partnership (PPP) between the MARD and Unilever, the initiative was proposed by Unilever to the Vietnamese government in its capacity as a member of the Public-Private Task Force on Sustainable Agriculture Development in Vietnam, which was initiated at the World Economic Forum in Ho Chi Minh City by Vietnam’s MARD Minister and a group of business leaders to accelerate sustainable agriculture-sector growth in Vietnam through public-private collaboration. Unilever has volunteered to take the lead in collaboration with MARD in tea development.

The initiative aims to help Vietnam increase to its export of black tea to Unilever through enabling Vietnam’s designated tea growers and processors to achieve improved quality and overall competitiveness of tea. Particularly, it is targeted to raise black tea procurements from Vietnam by Unilever to 25,000-30,000 tonnes of Rainforest Alliance certificated sustainable tea by 2015.

“Being the world’s largest player in tea industry, Unilever strongly commits to expand its tea supply base in Vietnam and to further its support to Vietnamese tea producers, especially in sustainability, quality and safety, helping to contribute to the development of tea industry in the country,” said JV Raman, chairman of Unilever in Vietnam (UVN).

Most importantly, the partnership had the potential of meaningfully involving an estimated 50-70,000 smallholder farmers in the tea supply chain in Vietnam, he stressed.

The partnership is a concrete action taken by Unilever to implement the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan launched by the company in end 2010, under which sourcing 100 per cent agricultural materials from sustainable sources is one of three key outcomes that the plan aims to achieve by 2020. The two other key outcomes are: helping more than one billion people to improve their health and well-being, and halving the environmental impact of its products.

“This meaningful partnership in Vietnam also showcases Unilever Vietnam’s long-term confidence and commitment to the Vietnamese market, further consolidating its position as a successful fast-moving consumer goods company and furthering its strong commitments to make Vietnamese lives better,” Raman said.

Bui Ba Bong, Vice Minister of MARD, said: “To advance to this significant event, I understand that there were a lot of efforts done by Unilever and Unilever in Vietnam. I wish this partnership great success and will become an example of PPP in agriculture in Vietnam.”

Tea is a very important sector in Vietnam with 130,000 hectares for growing tea trees. Tea plantations are mainly concentrated in the north and north-central mountainous regions. There are around 700 processing plants in the country and up to six million people live on tea farming and processing, which makes the industry play a key role in reducing poverty in the nation’s remote mountainous areas.

Since 2006, Unilever Vietnam has made a total commitment of more than VND400 billion ($19.2 million) to the key partnership initiatives in health and hygiene, education and children development, women’s empowerment and now sustainable tea sourcing.

Unilever Vietnam – through Unilever Vietnam Foundation and its brands, together with its government partners - have worked to benefit millions of households in the country, especially in rural and disadvantaged areas.