Services for Tea Projects

Worldwide Agricultural Development

Développement Agricole à Travers le Monde - Desarrollo Agropecuario a través del Mundo

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Tea production at a nucleus farm

SERVICES FOR TEA PROJECTS

Based on its long-standing experience in the tea industry HVA International is well equipped to meet the present demand for expertise for the rehabilitation and expansion of tea factories and estates, including the development of smallholder schemes.

Quality teas are made in the field and can ruined in the factory. Acknowledging this fact, HVA International has adopted an integrated approach to tea production, from selecting planting material to tea making in the factory.

Thus, great importance is attached to the quality of the green leaf plucked and delivered to the factory and to the handling of the leaf from the plucker’s basket to the withering troughs. Especially for leaf produced by smallholders it is sometimes necessary to use a tiered structure of payment for the quality of the leaf delivered. HVA International has the agronomic expertise for growing high yielding tea with a high quality potential. In many projects HVA International has carried out training programmes and has created appropriate organisational structures to realise this potential in terms of profitable production of made tea. For individual factories HVA usually prepares a detailed manual for tea making to establish good production practices.

Equally important is to produce the right tea, suitably packed for the right market at the right price. HVA International has build up many contacts in the trade and has developed reliable methods to establish price levels for specific types and qualities of teas.

HVA International’s experts in the tea sector cover all aspects of tea production and marketing. In-house expertise is also available in related fields such as irrigation/drainage management, farmer support services, farm economics, agricultural economics and policy and management information systems. HVA International has its own procurement department with considerable experience in supplying materials, equipment and machinery for tea projects.

In addition HVA International retains a number of senior Associate Consultants whose knowledge and experience can be called upon as and when required to meet a client's particular needs.

HVA International has the capability to provide the full range of consultancy, technical assistance, engineering and management services required by the tea industry. These services may cover all stages of a project from initial planning, through project implementation to project evaluation and review:

Project preparation and planning

	Sector studies to support the establishment of agricultural policies for development of the tea sector
	Marketing studies
	Site selection and evaluation
	Technical and agronomic audits for tea enterprises
	Feasibility studies for integrated tea projects
	Development planning for tea estates and tea smallholder schemes
	Basic engineering for tea factories

Project implementation

	Technical assistance for rehabilitation, expansion or establishment of new tea estates and/or smallholder plantings, including land development, selection and production of suitable planting material, establishment of appropriate field practices and training of staff.
	Consulting engineering for the rehabilitation and/or construction of tea factories.
	Services for procurement of machinery, equipment and materials
	Start up of tea factories, including establishment of good production practices and quality assurance procedures and training of staff.

Estate management

	Operational management of tea estates
	Operational support, e.g. in the field of plant nutrition and planning of field-by-field fertiliser programmes, irrigation/drainage management, soil conservation, weed control and pest management.
	Setting up, conducting and analysing on-site agronomic trials

Tea factory management

	Operational management of tea factories
	Product development and processing support (e.g., tea blending and grading, quality assurance programmes, developing attractive packaging)
	Technical support for tea factories (e.g. establishing replacement schedules and preventive maintenance programmes, workshop management)

Management of smallholder schemes

	Farmer support services (e.g., extension, organising supply of inputs, credit, organisational structure)
	Administration of green leaf supply and quality control

Marketing

	Conducting local marketing surveys with a view to advise on blending and quality grading, distribution, packaging and pricing.
	Introducing and better positioning local teas on the international (auction) market by adapting grading and packaging to international standards and sampling to brokers to determine landed or off-shore sales prices.

Training

	On the job training as part of technical assistance or operational management
	Organising specialised training courses
	Preparing manuals for field and factory operations and for general administrative procedures

Management information systems (MIS)

	Development, supply and installation of tea specific MIS covering field operations, pay roll, asset management, store inventory management, monitoring of processing data and sales.
	Training of staff in operating the MIS and associated administrative procedures.

Project evaluation and review

Mid term review or final evaluation of projects financed by international funding agencies.

For More Information Contact:

HVA International
Paasheuvelweg 28, 1105 BJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
P.O. Box 12204, 1100 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tel: +31-20-3116000
FAX: +31-20-6969599
Email: office@hvainternational.nl

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