“Heroic Mountain Tongbai, Ecological Huaiyuan Tea.” Located at the source of the thousand-mile-long Huai River, Tongbai County boasts beautiful mountains and clear waters, providing an excellent ecological environment for the tea industry. In recent years, Tongbai County has leveraged its local advantages and embraced technological advancements to transform the entire tea industry chain, from tea garden management to tea picking and processing, accelerating the development of the tea industry.
Tri-Level Coordination Transforms Tea Leaves into “Golden Leaves”
“Every year, provincial, municipal, and county-level technology extension workers bring their expertise to rural areas, establishing partnerships with companies and offering valuable advice on tea garden management and Tea processing techniques. In 2019, some of our tea plants were not growing well, and when we were at a loss, provincial technology extension workers came to our rescue like a ‘timely rain.' They conducted soil tests and guided us in improving the soil using rape seed Cake, among other methods. As a result, the yield of these tea plants increased by about 30%, and the quality of the tea leaves significantly improved,” said Wang Yeqing, manager of Tonghuai Tea Industry Co., Ltd.
After years of development, Tongbai County now boasts 167,000 mu (approximately 11,133 hectares) of ecological tea gardens, with 116,000 mu (approximately 7,733 hectares) under cultivation. The annual production is 4,060 tons, generating a primary industry value of 1.1 billion yuan and a comprehensive value exceeding 2 billion yuan. The green tea leaves have truly transformed into “golden leaves.”
Skill Training Boosts Talent Development in the Tea Industry
Talent is the primary resource. In recent years, the county has seized the opportunity presented by the “Everyone with Certificates, Skilled Henan” initiative to organize the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau to continuously cultivate skilled talent, enhancing the “soft power” driving rural revitalization.
Focusing on “strengthening skills through external learning and promoting improvement through internal competitions,” the county has organized leaders and professional personnel to learn and exchange experiences in advanced regions and enterprises in the tea industry. This approach enriches professional technical knowledge and improves decision-making levels and service capabilities. Skill contests are regularly held to identify skilled professionals in the tea industry within Tongbai County, effectively conducting “mentorship and guidance” for local talents. This further nurtures apprentices to rapidly grow into core technical forces, accumulating human resources for the tea industry. To date, more than 2,000 skilled professionals have emerged in various fields related to the tea industry across the county.
Digitalization Fuels High-Quality Development in the Tea Industry
In the production workshop of Tonghuai Tea Industry Co., Ltd., equipment operates automatically. The entire production process, from raw material feeding to Drying, cooling, flattening, and more, is connected to a large data platform for the tea industry, enabling online remote visual management. Workers can complete tasks simply by tapping a few buttons on a microcomputer.
“This digital production line can process two thousand pounds of fresh leaves daily, equivalent to the workload of 200 workers. More importantly, digital production ensures higher standardization and better quality control for the tea,” said Tao Baolin, the factory manager of Tonghuai Tea Industry Co., Ltd.'s production workshop. To improve production efficiency and tea quality, the company has specifically introduced advanced equipment and technologies.
In addition, the county has held specialized seminars on digital production to better leverage the value of data services in the real economy, driving high-quality development in the tea industry.