Xu Qilai Builds a Ten-Thousand-Mu Tea Plantation, Aiming for a Century-Old Tea Brand

Contracting barren hills to establish a tea plantation, carrying out green pest control to kill pests, introducing e-commerce to keep pace with the times... Xu Qilai, deputy secretary of the Party branch of Haojiachong Village, Shihegang Town, Shihe District, Xinyang City, and Party branch secretary and chairman of the Xinyang Shihe District Chadu Sanmong Professional Cooperative, is building a ten-thousand-mu tea plantation and aiming for a century-old brand.

In 1990, Xu Qilai graduated from Xinyang Agricultural College and first contracted 150 mu of tea plantation in Haojiachong Village; in the winter of 1996, he contracted more than 2,000 mu of barren hills and converted them into fir groves, bamboo forests, and walnut orchards; in 2001, he contracted more than 5,000 mu of barren hills and planted tung oil trees, walnuts, bamboo forests, and chestnut orchards...

A university graduate, Xu Qilai has always worked in agriculture, remaining unwavering for more than 20 years. Later, all of these were converted to tea plantations. Today, Xu Qilai's tea plantation covers more than 11,000 mu, driving more than 20,000 people in 3 townships to participate in the tea industry.

"In the past, tea farmers relied on the weather for their livelihood, but now they can completely rely on the professional skills they have learned, and can also continuously enrich themselves through technical platforms, providing support for sustainable skills." Xu Qilai said this has greatly improved the tea farmers' ideas and professional skills, keeping them in step with the pace of the times.