Tea industry thrives due to local efforts

Farmers pick tea leaves in June. [Photo/xifeng.gov.cn]

June is an important time for farmers at the Tuanyuan Mountain tea plantation in Xifeng county, Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou province, as it is when tea leaves are picked and processing work is carried out.

The plantation covers three villages in the county and boasts year-round abundant precipitation, nutrient-rich soil, dense fogs, high altitude, and low latitude, making it suitable for tea growth.

In 2018, a professional tea cooperative was established for the plantation. "I pick tea leaves at this time every year and earn a daily wage of about 200 yuan ($29.84)," said a tea farmer working at the base.

After the careful selection of tea leaves, the cooperative will immediately send special cars to transport the leaves for further processing to a 960-square-meter workshop, which currently has two tea production lines reaching national standards.

"The picking and processing of tea leaves should be carried out on the same day. Otherwise, the leaves change color, severely impacting the finished tea's quality and sale price," said an official of the cooperative.

Last year, the cooperative joined an e-commerce company and adopted the "e-commerce + professional cooperative + farmer + base" development model to broaden sales channels. Last year, the cooperative posted online sales of over 60,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 200 percent.