After the rain, new buds sprout.
Currently, it is the period of vigorous growth for new shoots on Tea trees. Walking into the vast tea mountains in Guiting Town, Guiting County, tea farmers are scattered throughout the tea gardens picking tea leaves to supply summer and autumn tea production.
Tea farmers from Niaowang Village, Guiting Town, Guiting County, picking fresh tea leaves in an ecological tea garden
“Today is sunny, perfect weather for picking tea.” On the morning of July 31st, Villager Lei Bangxiu from Niaowang Village, Guiting Town, and her granddaughter arrived at their family's tea garden with baskets on their backs. They moved their hands swiftly among the tea bushes, quickly gathering a handful of fresh tea buds.
“I'm old now, so I can only pick about two pounds of tea leaves a day,” said Lei Bangxiu with a bright smile as she looked over at the nearby tea garden, adding, “My granddaughter can pick more than four pounds!”
Residents of Niaowang Village, Guiting County, are delighted with their fresh tea leaf harvest.
Taking advantage of the summer break, Lei Bangxiu's granddaughter Jin Lan came to help pick tea in the garden. “I started picking tea in the garden around 8 AM, and I've already picked more than two pounds,” Jin Lan said proudly as noon approached, turning the Bamboo basket on her back to the front to show off her harvest. “By the end of the day, I can sell more than four pounds of tea leaves for about 130 yuan, which is a gift to myself during my vacation.”
After a day of hard work, the tea farmers bring their freshly picked tea leaves to nearby tea companies in the village. Inside the processing workshops of these companies, machines hum loudly, and the aroma of tea fills the air as the production lines operate at full capacity to make tea.
The person in charge of a tea company in Niaowang Village, Guiting County, is busy producing summer and autumn teas.
“This year we upgraded our tea-making equipment, which not only increased our production but also brought us orders from Guiyang tea merchants,” said Lei Xingyu, the head of Guiting Xingyu Tea Factory, as he and his colleagues worked on the production line. “We currently have an order for 5,000 pounds, which we expect to deliver to the tea merchants in ten days.”
Following the integration of project funds amounting to 3.36 million yuan in 2023, this year, to further promote the development of the tea industry, Guiting Town has integrated project funds totaling more than 5.4 million yuan to support the development of 30 tea companies, including Changxiangyi, Gaoshan Tea Garden, and Xingyu Tea Factory. This support includes helping these companies purchase tea-processing equipment such as Wok-frying machines, rolling machines, baking machines, and flavor-enhancing machines, as well as constructing tea-processing factories, assisting them in expanding their production capacity and increasing output.
The person in charge of a tea company in Niaowang Village, Guiting County, broadens sales channels by live-streaming traditional tea-making techniques online.
“Last year, our tea product output was around 8 tons. After updating our equipment this year, our production cycle can last until November, increasing our capacity threefold to approximately 25 tons while ensuring quality,” said Lei Xingyu, beads of sweat on his forehead, but with a happy smile on his face. “Our tea output value is expected to reach around 30 million yuan this year. Moving forward, we will expand our factory, continuously improving the quality and increasing the output of our tea products.”
Statistics show that in the first half of this year, the tea garden area in Guiting Town remained stable at 108,000 mu, with a dry tea output exceeding 5,000 tons, representing a 5.36% increase compared to the same period in 2023. The estimated annual output is 7,500 tons, with a value of 900 million yuan. Tea cultivation covers 6,000 households in the town, and the tea industry employs an average of 16,000 people annually, with an average income increase of 20,000 yuan per household per year.
Tea companies in Guiting County are rushing to fulfill orders, fully supplying the summer and autumn tea market.
Currently, the number of tea business entities in the entire town has increased by two to 106, with 16 county-level leading enterprises. It is planned to add three more SC-certified enterprises, bringing the total to four, and establish the “Guiting Snow Bud” Alliance, further enhancing market vitality.
Deputy Town Mayor Wu Gang stated that in the next steps, they will fully leverage resource advantages, promote high-quality development of “three varieties and three teas” (i.e., varieties, quality, brand, tea culture, tea industry, and tea technology), continue to develop new tea products, expand the tea market, broaden sales channels for tea, and invigorate the tea economy, thereby enhancing the comprehensive competitiveness of the Guiting Tribute Tea industry.
The ecological tea garden in Guiting Town, Guiting County
It is known that to continuously expand the scale of Guiting Tribute Tea and improve product quality, the town will increase investment, consolidate the foundation for industrial development, construct standardized tea gardens, infrastructure, and improve the quality and efficiency of tea production. It will also gather human, material, and financial resources to focus on the tea industry. At the same time, it will integrate resources related to tribute tea culture and ethnic culture, tell compelling brand stories, and ensure that the “Guiting Cloudy Mist Tribute Tea” brand reaches thousands of households, enhancing its brand influence.
In terms of improving the quality of tea, to encourage tea companies to produce organic, green, clean, and ecological tea, the town will cultivate a group of high-starting-point, influential tea processing leading enterprises. It will incentivize and guide these enterprises to expand and improve their production lines, continuously improve processes and develop new products, fully leveraging the leadership of these leading enterprises to promote the scaled development of the tea industry and establish a quality and safety control system.