Across China: Tech-driven tea leaf production enriches southwest China county

Strolling through his thriving tea plantation, Chen Shijun was delighted to see the leaves intact, radiating a vibrant green hue, and the trees luxuriantly lush.

The daily yield of Chen's contracted tea plantation, covering an area of over 100 mu (about 6.67 hectares) in Changgou Village located in Jinsha County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, has exceeded 500 kg of tea leaves in recent days. With the current yield, Chen is projected to rake in an annual income of over 300,000 yuan (about 42,280 U.S. dollars) this year.

Dubbed the hometown of Gongcha (royal tea) in China, Jinsha has a rich heritage of tea cultivation, with the county boasting 300,000 mu of tea plantations. In recent years, the county has transitioned from traditional tea-producing methods to tech-enabled large-scale cultivation and production.

Chen is among the tea farmers who have benefited from this transition. He took over a tea plantation from Guizhou Jinsha Gongchachaye Corporation Limited on a contract. The company also supplied him with organic fertilizer, mowers, weeders, and various other farming tools and materials, along with pest and disease mitigation services.

According to Zheng Jikui, deputy general manager of Guizhou Jinsha Gongchachaye, the company manages 82,000 mu of tea plantations and has contracted out segmented plots to local tea farmers. At the same time, the company has consistently aided in enhancing the agricultural skills of tea farmers through its collaboration with research institutes.

For instance, the company's partnership with the green pesticide laboratory of Guizhou University has helped promote the widespread use of eco-friendly prevention and control technologies among tea farmers.

In addition to tea cultivation, the processing of tea leaves has also undergone industrialization, thanks to technological innovations.

At the company's plant, only a handful of workers are visible on the ground. The entire processing of green tea leaves, from preservation to rolling and drying, is carried out by machines based on input parameters such as temperature, humidity and heating degrees.

"The tea leaves we purchase from farmers are of varied shapes and sizes, and classifying them into different grades is the first task," said Zheng. He explained that the company uses sieving technologies to grade tea leaves, boosting the efficiency of screening top-quality green tea leaves.

Last year, the company saw an annual output of 1,500 tonnes of processed tea leaves with an output value totaling 85 million yuan, and its products were exported to five Central Asian countries.

Machinery used for tea leaf processing here could be locally manufactured. To extend and enhance the tea industry's supply chain, Jinsha County has invited companies specializing in the manufacturing of tea leaf processing machinery and organic fertilizers to set up plants in the county.

Guizhou Jinsanye Machinery Manufacturing Co. manufactures a wide array of equipment, including machines used to inhibit the oxidization of tea leaves, fanning mills and sieving machines.

"Our company offers tea leaf producers a comprehensive set of equipment required for intelligent production lines, resulting in an annual output value exceeding 60 million yuan last year," said Hu Zhengjun, general manager of the company.

Currently, Jinsha is home to over 50 tea leaf processing enterprises, generating a total tea leaf output value of 1.55 billion yuan last year. At least 58,500 households engaged in tea cultivation saw an average increase in their family income by over 10,000 yuan, according to Wang Youying, an official with the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs of the county.