At 9:00 a.m. on August 9, with the rumbling of machinery, the Jishou City Tea Association and the Municipal Tea Office officially inaugurated the demonstration training for mechanized tea picking in the Xiangxi Golden Tea plantation at Aikou Village, Majingao Town. This event was organized by the Association to improve the utilization rate of fresh leaves of Xiangxi Golden Tea, increase income for tea enterprises and farmers. It specifically invited Zhu Shengyao, Chairman and General Manager of Hunan Xiangcha Group Xiangxi Tea Co., Ltd., Xu Hui, Executive Deputy General Manager of Xiangxi Tea Co., Ltd., Hu Ziguo, technical specialist responsible for mechanized tea picking and processing in Shimen, and other marketing and technical experts to conduct specialized training on mechanized tea picking. Experts Bao Xiaocun, former director of the Provincial Tea Research Institute, and Tan Zhengchu, former Party Secretary of the Institute, also provided on-site guidance. More than fifty tea companies, cooperatives, and family farms in the Jishou area participated in this training.

Through on-site learning and practical demonstrations, participants realized that after ensuring the spring harvest of high-quality Green Tea, they could still conduct large-scale mechanical picking three to four times during the summer and autumn seasons. This changed the previous practice of only processing high-quality green tea from fresh leaves collected around Qingming Festival, with no further picking afterward. As a result, the utilization rate of fresh leaves can be significantly increased, achieving an additional income of over 2,000 yuan per mu at present. They also learned that mechanically picked tea, after primary and secondary processing, can be exported, sold domestically, or used as raw materials for various tea beverages, offering broad market prospects.

Lijia Hui, President of the Jishou City Tea Association, presided over the training, while Tu Hongqiang, Deputy Director of the Municipal Tea Office and Director of the Tea Industry Center of the Municipal Agriculture Bureau, attended the session. Lijia Hui requested that Xiangxi Golden Tea farmers focus on three things: first, to calculate their economic benefits accurately; second, to properly position their tea gardens; third, to manage their tea gardens effectively. Participants unanimously agreed that upon returning, they would classify and manage their tea gardens according to the standards for high-quality green tea and mechanized tea picking, aiming to increase both the utilization rate of fresh tea leaves and their income.

Reporter | Yao Jihui