Another spring tea season, tea farmers from all over Hubei took advantage of the good weather to enter the tea garden and shuttle among the tea trees. Hubei spring tea is sought after by the market for its "freshness".

In recent years, as a major tea province, Hubei has taken many measures to promote the development of the tea industry, strengthen the chain, extend the chain, and supplement the chain. All parts of the province have strengthened tea garden management, expanded e-commerce marketing, and promoted the integration of tea and tourism. Hubei's tea production and sales are booming, striving to turn a "small leaf" into a "big industry" worth 100 billion yuan.

On March 29, spring tea was mined in Daquan Mountain, Shangyong Town, Zhushan County, Shiyan City, Hubei Province. Photographed by Guo Ji, the king of People's Online

Ecological "breeding" tea

"The bamboo mountain is high, the mountain is in the clouds; the holy water is sweet, sweet in the heart. Nuwa left a stone to fill the sky, and turned it into a green tea garden all over the mountain..." With the familiar melody, more than 100 tea picking girls danced in the tea garden, flipped their fingertips, and pieces of fresh buds were put into the tea basket. "One bud, one leaf, one touch of fragrance, one person is busy picking tea" The tea picking picture is presented.

Hubei Zhushan is located in the hinterland of Qinling and Bashan, and Duhe, the largest tributary of the Han River, runs through the county. It is the core water source area of the South to North Water Transfer Project, the national important ecological function area, and the Qinling and Bashan biodiversity conservation area.

Zhushan County has organized party members, cadres, volunteers, and the masses to set up a water conservation vanguard team, regularly check the environmental sanitation along the blocked river, collect white garbage, and publicize the policies of environmental protection, fishing prohibition, water conservation, and water conservation. "We carry out river patrol at least once a week. The river is much cleaner than before, and the small fish and shrimp in the water can be clearly seen." Li Hongyu, a volunteer of the Water Guard Pioneer, said, "Water guard is not only a duty, but also a kind of perseverance."

In recent years, Zhushan County has invested 120 million yuan to complete the relocation of urban drinking water intakes. It raised 100 million yuan to shut down and dismantle 7 small hydropower stations blocking the river source, transform 5 chemical enterprises along the river, ban more than 1380 cages in the reservoir area blocking the river, and dismantle 528 ships ashore. The whole county has achieved full coverage of sewage treatment in organic towns, all black and odorous water bodies in cities have been cancelled, and the water quality of key rivers and centralized drinking water sources has reached the standard rate of 100%.

Good tea comes from good mountains and water, and the good ecological environment of Zhushan has bred good tea plants, making it a high-quality tea producing area.

Based on the ecological background, Zhushan County regards tea as one of the pillar industries to enrich the people and strengthen the county. The ecological tea garden area of the whole county has exceeded 300000 mu. Last year, the output of dry tea in the whole county was nearly 12000 tons, the comprehensive output value exceeded 5 billion yuan, and the annual income of 200000 tea farmers increased by more than 7200 yuan. The "green leaves" in the mountains became "red notes" in the pockets of the masses.

Background data analysis of biological prevention and control system. Photographed by Chen Tiejian

Science and technology "promote" tea

Now it is the spring tea picking season. The neatly arranged tea trees in the State Guest Garden of Nanmu Village, Lichuan City, Hubei Province are stretching their green leaves and enjoying the sunshine and rain. The eyeful beauty cannot be separated from the help of technology.

In June 2023, Lichuanhong Group invested 2.5 million yuan to build a biological prevention and control system and a meteorological sphere in nearly 500 mu tea gardens in Nanmu Village, Maoba Town and Youhao Village, Baiyangba Town, to achieve scientific and technological management. The biological prevention and control system transmits images and other data to the background in real time. Through technical analysis, it can accurately determine the main pests in this period, providing scientific guidance for the precise prevention and control of pests in the tea garden. It is reported that only two sets of equipment are needed for one mu of land to fundamentally solve the problem of pest control for many years.

The weather ball can observe the environmental temperature, environmental humidity, wind speed and direction of the tea garden in real time, providing data reference for managers, so as to timely ventilate and water the tea garden.

"When picking spring tea, it was found that the quality of tea has been significantly improved through scientific and technological planting management, and both the color of fresh leaves and the aroma and soup color of finished tea are better than those of tea under traditional management." Liu Feng, general manager of Lichuan Red Industry Group, said.

In the Lichuan Hong-1 Nursery Shed in Yangliu Temple, the water mist is everywhere. This is the automatic sprinkler system that is "feeding" tea seedlings to drink water. The staff told the reporter that the automatic sprinkler irrigation system uses modern information technology and automation technology to intelligently control the amount of water in the greenhouse, and automatically adjust irrigation and other control parameters according to crop growth, environmental conditions, weather and other factors to achieve rational and efficient use of water resources.

"At present, these are all pilot work and will be promoted in the city when the technology is mature," Liu Feng said.

Cultural tourism "integration" tea

The fragrance of flowers and tea attracts tourists and citizens. The Huaxiang Tea Valley, located in Huangpi District, Wuhan City, integrates flowers and tea according to local conditions to build "six garden tea gardens" of ginkgo, cherry, plum, crape myrtle, imperial concubine Antarctic red and osmanthus. Tourists can walk in the tea and flowers all the year round to experience the garden tea garden with ecological, organic and tea tourism integration.

"It's like a paradise, enjoying flowers and tea, and enjoying yourself." Ms. Li, a tourist, said with a smile. "There are also some experiential entertainment projects in the scenic spot, such as tea picking, and the production of ancient scented tea. It's a worthwhile trip."

As a new model of "integration of agriculture, culture and tourism", Huaxiang Tea Valley relies on the unique advantages of garden tea gardens, integrates more than 10000 mu of flower tea gardens, forest tea gardens, and organic tea gardens to create tea industry, cultural inheritance and leisure experience functions, and forms a regional comprehensive development model of tea, culture and tourism.

Zhang Jun, general manager of Huaxiang Tea Valley, introduced that there are also tea museums, tea workshops, tea picking gardens, tea post stations and other services for tourists in the park. It has developed six new beauty scented teas, including crape myrtle black tea, osmanthus black tea, ginkgo black tea, plum black tea, cherry black tea and imperial concubine black tea, which are favored by tourists.

The integration of "flower" and "tea" leverages the characteristic industrial chain, and the industrial scale is gradually expanded. At present, Caizha Street, where Huaxiang Tea Valley is located, is the largest area for continuous tea planting in Wuhan, and is known as the "No.1 Tea Town in Wuhan". There are 22 cooperatives and family farms with tea as the core industry alone, and nearly 1500 households are engaged in tea planting. The scale of tea plantation has grown to nearly 30000 mu. Promote tourism with tea and take tea with tourism, and gradually form an industrial chain of cultural tourism convergence, health care and livability, with an annual output value of 240 million yuan.

At present, Hubei Province has launched ten major actions, namely, variety cultivation, quality improvement, brand optimization, standard construction, subject cultivation, process improvement, product research and development, market development, production services, and technology empowerment, to promote high-quality development of the tea industry and realize the transformation from a large tea province to a strong tea province through practical means, such as building a provincial public brand, improving the standard system, and building a marketing platform.

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