Fuliang tea farmer Wang Aimin achieves prosperity out of poverty through all-round development of the tea industry

"Eight parts mountain, one part water, half a part farmland, half a part roads and homesteads" has been the popular saying about Xihu Township since ancient times. On May 21, a reporter drove to Xihu Township for an interview. Upon entering the township, one felt invigorated. Xihu Township has green mountains and clear waters, winding ridges, swirling clouds and mist, and dense forests, with very rich animal and plant resources, making it the best environmental condition for tea to grow. In recent years, the township has seized opportunities and ridden the momentum to vigorously implement the national agricultural development strategy, carrying out the development of organic tea and famous quality tea. Through a series of tea-promoting measures such as "expanding the area and building tea gardens, replacing varieties, upgrading low-yield tea gardens, and scientific management", it has also developed nearly 50 mu of tea seedling nurseries, providing 5 million commercial tea seedlings to destinations within and outside the province each year. Up to now, the township has cumulatively created more than 2,100 mu of new tea gardens and upgraded more than 3,600 mu of old tea gardens, with the total tea garden area having exceeded more than 10,000 mu.

Recently, on a tea mountain at an altitude of 800 m in Yangjiaping Village, Xihu Township, Fuliang County, Jiangxi Province, on the border with Anhui Province, the reporter saw 3 tea farmers busy pruning tea plants. The middle-aged man walking in front is the owner of this tea garden. His name is Wang Aimin, and he is exactly the person the reporter had come to visit.

Pointing to the road by which we came up the mountain, Wang Aimin told the reporter: "Tea farmers have always walked up to pick tea. Walking to the upper part of the tea garden takes one or two hours. Later, through government investment, a tractor road was built up here, saving us tea farmers two or three hours on the round trip. For us tea farmers, the tea leaves, fertilizer, and even transportation conditions have all saved a lot of time. Tea farmers can ride motorcycles up to pick tea and it takes only about 10 minutes, which has brought us great benefits!" He explained that in the past tea was all picked by hand, generally about 30 jin per person per day, while with a tea-picking machine each person can pick an average of more than 150 jin a day, greatly improving labor efficiency.

Yangjiaping Village is located in a remote area, 85 km from the county seat and 15 km from the seat of the township government, making transportation very inconvenient. The village has more than 70 households, and each person has only 4 fen of farmland, so there is not enough grain to eat. Economic income mainly depends on tea and tea-oil camellia seeds. Previously, per capita annual income was only three or four thousand yuan, and life was tight. Wang Aimin, born in 1973, returned home after graduating from high school. He originally planned to rely on the 60 mu of high-mountain tea garden left by his ancestors to develop tea production, but reality made him retreat. Although the high-mountain tea produced in Yangjiaping is of good quality and sales are not a worry, constrained by transportation, picking and transporting tea both required carrying on the shoulder and back. The journey was long, and not much tea could be picked in a day. Much of the tea grew old on the trees, and economic returns were very low. At that time, apart from picking some spring tea to make famous quality tea for sale, Wang Aimin let the summer tea and autumn tea go to waste on the trees and went out to collect tea on behalf of others, becoming a "middleman".

In order to build the "Fuliang Tea" brand and help the people escape poverty and become prosperous, Fuliang County vigorously supported the tea industry and formulated a series of preferential policies benefiting farmers during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period. A large amount of funds was invested to upgrade low-yield tea gardens across the county, build tractor roads, and purchase tea-processing machinery with a 30% fiscal subsidy. From 2010 to 2012, 7,000 m of tractor roads were built on Yangjiaping Tea Mountain, so vehicles could drive directly up to the tea mountain, greatly facilitating the production and life of tea farmers. Because the mountain is high and the slopes steep, transportation was inconvenient. To increase tea output, Wang Aimin said tea farmers used to apply chemical fertilizers, which had high costs and also affected tea quality. Since the tractor roads were built, everyone no longer uses chemical fertilizers and instead switched to special organic fertilizer for tea, greatly saving costs and increasing income.

Over these five years, Wang Aimin added 1 fixation machine, 5 rolling machines, 3 tea sorting machines, and 3 baking and aroma-enhancing machines, totaling 82,300 yuan, with a government agricultural machinery subsidy of 24,690 yuan, so he actually spent only 57,610 yuan. The tea garden expanded from the original 60 mu to the current 300 mu, and economic income increased several times over. His family moved to the seat of the township government and built a new house, and set up a tea-processing factory. He joined with tea farmers from 3 villages, Xihu, Chabao, and Yangjiaping, to establish a tea professional cooperative, and life has become more and more prosperous.

Speaking of his plans for the future, Wang Aimin answered: "With the development of the market, I personally have set my sights on the middle- and low-grade tea market. In order to expand processing scale, I am expanding a 700 sq m factory building with an annual processing capacity of 500 tons of tea. It is expected to be put into use in May next year, and during the '13th Five-Year Plan' period it will lead more tea farmers onto the road of developing the tea industry to escape poverty and become prosperous."