In the mountainous northwest of Hubei, on the “Roof of Gucheng” at an average altitude of over a thousand meters in Zhaowan Township, there are two brothers who serve as the Party branch secretaries of two adjacent villages. Their story of sharing resources and collectively developing the Tea industry to lead the locals to prosperity and a moderately prosperous life is widely known.
“How's the quality of the tea processed by the mechanical arms?” “Not bad, I'll come and process a couple of batches myself then.” At the end of June, Wang Anjun, the Party branch secretary of Taozhuang Village, brought his younger brother Wang Anhua to visit the newly purchased equipment in the village.
Wang Anhua is the Party branch secretary of Changling Village, and had been worried about the tea production due to insufficient funds to build a new production line.
“Brother, can we join forces to build a medium-sized Tea processing factory? This way, we can share equipment and labor, saving costs and increasing efficiency,” Wang Anhua asked, looking at Wang Anjun.
Wang Anjun nodded in agreement, saying, “That's exactly what I was thinking. Let's do this together.”
Taozhuang Village and Changling Village are both high-altitude villages, separated by only five to six kilometers, with many of their mountains connected. The climate here is suitable for tea cultivation, and the high-quality cloud mist fragrant tea is highly favored in the market. Currently, the two villages have a total of 2,200 mu of tea gardens, primarily producing premium tea. Although the output is low, the prices are high, with an annual value of more than 2 million yuan.
The brothers are both skilled at management, each with their own strategies.
Wang Anhua has leased out all 1,400 mu of tea gardens in his village, with over 600 mu managed by Huang Gang, a local talent, and the remaining 800 mu entrusted to Nishuigou Tea Field, specializing in premium tea production.
“I pay the village collective over 20,000 yuan in lease fees every year, driving 60 households into the tea industry, increasing their annual income by around 7,000 to 8,000 yuan per household,” said Huang Gang, adding that he makes about 100,000 yuan a year after covering costs.
Liu Gangcun, a resident of Changling Village, works regularly in the tea gardens leased by Huang Gang. Skilled and efficient, he excels in various tasks such as picking tea, fertilizing, pruning, and clearing dead branches, earning an additional 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a year.
Wang Anjun, on the other hand, adopts a collective operation model, managing the 800 mu of tea gardens in Taozhuang Village uniformly. From planting tea seedlings to harvesting and sales, every step is handled by a tea professional cooperative established by the village, also focusing on premium tea, which brings in over 50,000 yuan annually for the village collective.
“The workers in the tea garden are all from the village; I want to help them increase their income,” said Wang Anjun, noting that families can earn an extra 10,000 yuan or so each year thanks to the tea gardens.
With the acceleration of urban-rural integration, residents in high-altitude areas are also improving their living standards through hard work.
The brothers Wang Anjun and Wang Anhua realized that to make the tea industry bigger and stronger, they couldn't rely solely on the traditional approach of “harvesting one season's tea and selling it once.” Instead, they needed to leverage science and technology, launch new projects, expand capacity, improve quality and efficiency, and broaden the market.
Premium tea is mainly harvested around the Qingming Festival, with a strong seasonal nature. Learning that fresh leaves harvested during the summer and autumn could be processed into different types of mid-to-low-grade teas, which are produced in larger quantities and sold at better prices, Wang Anjun saw this as a viable solution and immediately set out to investigate the possibility of building a new production line.
There is a company in Gucheng County specializing in tea Export trade, which purchases various types of raw tea and sells them to regions like the Middle East and Southeast Asia after sorting and selection.
“Why go far when we have them nearby?” Wang Anjun proactively approached the company's management, and both sides agreed to try out a cooperative venture.
Wang Anjun quickly discussed the matter with Wang Anhua. By securing funding from rural revitalization projects and self-raised funds, they collected 1.5 million yuan to start construction of a medium-sized tea processing factory in Taozhuang Village. The factory would operate according to standards, unifying the collection, processing, and sale of tea.
“Once the new production line is operational, the tea harvest season will extend from March to September, giving villagers nearly half a year to earn money. Moreover, tea from surrounding villages can also be processed here, saving them the trouble of having to travel down the mountain,” Wang Anjun calculated. With the 2,200 mu of tea gardens across the two villages, the total annual output value would exceed 20 million yuan, ten times the current amount, bringing greater benefits to the people.