Mid-summer season
Stepping into the modern agricultural park in Sanhe Village, Mudu Town, Wangcang County,
Rows of neatly arranged Tea plants are lush and green.
In recent years, Wangcang County has been unwavering in its commitment to the concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” transforming ecological advantages into development advantages. It drives high-quality development with a green engine, enhances the technological content of tea production bases, expands scale, extends the value chain, strengthens brands, and promotes the deep integration of Tea culture, tea tourism, and tea health care. The county is accelerating the construction of a high-quality development leading area for tea culture and tourism, adding “green momentum” to economic development and villagers' prosperity.
“We're not just focusing on the tea industry; we're also making precise efforts around special industries,” said Li Bin, Director of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Wangcang County. He explained that the county fully leverages its regional advantages, develops special industries according to local conditions, and has embarked on a distinctive path to industrial wealth.
Tea “Chains” Together a New Prosperous Industry
“My family now leases over 9 mu (about 0.6 hectares) of land, which the cooperative has uniformly replanted with Yellow Tea, resulting in better benefits and an annual income of over 50,000 yuan,” said Wu Biying, a tea farmer from Sanhe Village. She explained that as the technological content of tea production bases continues to improve, increasing the added value of the tea industry, not only has the tea output increased, but prices have also doubled.
Good mountains and good water produce fine tea. Wangcang is one of the key tea-producing areas in Sichuan Province, with a long history of tea production and excellent ecological environment. Its unique natural environment has established Wangcang's status as the “Hometown of Famous Chinese Teas” and the “Hometown of Yellow Tea in China.” The Mican Mountain tea and Guangyuan yellow tea are renowned nationwide for their superior quality.
Wangcang County is vigorously developing efficient ecological agriculture and boutique agriculture, promoting standardized planting of facility agriculture, integrating the development of the agricultural industry, and activating the “endogenous driving force” for the transformation and upgrading of modern agriculture. By taking the tea industry as one of the special industries for rural revitalization, it continuously explores new models of agricultural industrial development. Through the introduction of key enterprises, financial support, cooperative leadership, and other methods, the county has developed special industries according to local conditions, embarked on a prosperous path of “prosperity through tea and wealth through tea,” and achieved a “triple win” in economic, social, and ecological benefits.
“It's not just about tea; we're vigorously building a modern industrial system and cultivating emerging industries,” Li Bin explained. He stated that Wangcang County will give full play to its resource, ecological, geographical, and policy advantages, develop special industries according to local conditions, enrich the characteristics of the industry, extend the industrial chain, and carry out high-quality training for farmers, entrepreneurial leaders, practical agricultural technologies, and vocational skills to broaden the path to prosperity for villagers.
This year, Wangcang County plans to build and upgrade 33,000 mu (about 2,200 hectares) of high-standard farmland to ensure that the sown area of grain remains stable at over 650,000 mu (about 43,333 hectares), with a yield of over 2.3 million tons. In addition, it will manage and consolidate 250,000 mu (about 16,667 hectares) of tea gardens to a high standard and comprehensively develop and utilize 30,000 mu (about 2,000 hectares) of summer and autumn teas.
By the end of May this year, Wangcang County had 30 key agricultural leading enterprises at the county level or above, 117 farmers' professional cooperatives, and 340 family farms. Currently, 250,000 mu (about 16,667 hectares) of tea production bases have been built, with an expected annual tea output of 10,000 tons and a comprehensive output value of 10 billion yuan. After years of scientific guidance and careful cultivation, the tea industry has become the “green code” for local residents to increase their income and prosperity.
Agricultural “Chips” Brighten Seed Industry Brands
“Guangyuan City has many mountains and mists, and the Guangyuan yellow tea produced there resembles small orchids, with water extract content consistently and stably above 40%, and an average amino acid content stably around 7%. This is 2 to 3 times higher than ordinary Green Tea. It has the distinctive qualities of being golden in appearance, goose-yellow in infusion color, jade-yellow in leaf base, high in amino acid content, high in aroma, and high in yellow pigment—the ‘three yellows and three highs,' ” Ren Yong, deputy director of the Wangcang County Tea Research Institute, elaborated enthusiastically on the characteristics of Wangcang tea.
Agricultural brands are the core indicators of agricultural competitiveness, the key engines of modern agriculture, and the critical supports for rural revitalization. Ren Yong introduced that Wangcang County insists on cultivating brands through industries, casting brands through quality, strengthening brands through markets, and shaping brands through culture, continuously increasing the cultivation of agricultural product brands. The county actively constructs a long-term mechanism for agricultural brand construction involving government promotion, departmental coordination, enterprise initiative, and social encouragement, strengthens the team of new agricultural business entities, actively cultivates “geographical indication trademarks,” promotes the full-chain development of agriculture, and increases the integration of the regional public brand “Mican Mountain Tea,” forming a favorable development pattern where industries cultivate brands and brands enhance benefits.
Wangcang County, following the standards of “advanced production lines, scaled production capacity, clean production, and series production of products,” builds an industrial brand system and a sound brand standard system. It establishes and improves the brand management system for regional public brands, including authorization, supervision, and protection, adhering to centralized layout and cluster development. The county extends the chain of “leading enterprise + park (base) + processing + brand + market,” accelerates the creation of “enterprise + region” brands, focuses on production line support, capacity expansion, process renovation, technology upgrades, equipment renewal, and crafts specialty advantage single items.
In terms of brand construction, Wangcang County continues to advance the construction of regional public brands such as “Guangyuan Yellow Tea” and “Mican Mountain Tea,” supporting enterprises to join the provincial-level regional public brand “Tianfu Longya,” and accelerating the development of corporate brands represented by Mican Mountain, Mudu, and Sanshan. It intensifies publicity efforts to continuously raise the reputation and influence of “Guangyuan Yellow Tea” and “Mican Mountain Tea,” promoting the integrated development of tea plantation parks, standardized production, industrialized operation, branded products, and the fusion of tea culture and tourism.
Today, Wangcang County is seeking breakthroughs in improving varieties, making efforts in enhancing quality, and achieving effectiveness in shaping brands. As a result