Lianjiang Tea Industrial Park in Zhanjiang was recently included in the first batch of provincial modern agricultural industrial parks for the year of 2020.

Its inclusion signifies that the tea industry in Lianjiang is ushering in new development opportunities and can become a leading industry to increase the incomes of farmers in mountainous areas, as well as boost rural revitalization.

Lianjiang is currently the county-level city in China with the largest cultivation area of Jin Xuan Oolong Tea and Cuiyu Oolong Tea. It also ranks first in Guangdong province in the plantation area of golden camellia. In 2019, Lianjiang oolong tea was recognized as a national famous-brand, special, excellent, and new product.

The total tea cultivation area in Lianjiang reaches 28,200 mu (1,880 hectares), with a yearly tea production of more than 6,000 metric tons and an annual output value of 750 million yuan ($106.92 million). The tea industry also drives the sales of tourism, logistics, processing, and tea sets, generating more than 1 billion yuan.

The per capita disposable income of residents within the area where Lianjiang Tea Industrial Park is located is nearly 20,000 yuan, 15.18 percent higher than the city's average level.

The terraced tea garden in Lianjiang, a county-level city in Zhanjiang. [Phot by Li Rui/WeChat account: gh_af724c75e13a]

The provincial tea industrial park will cover Changshan, Shijing, and Liangdong towns in Liangjiang, and have a total planning area of 497.41 square kilometers.

According to Wu Zhangwei, head of the development planning unit of the Lianjiang agriculture and rural affairs bureau, the provincial tea industrial park will involve more than 20 projects. Functional areas for production, processing, logistics, comprehensive services, research and development, training, sales, innovation, as well as entertainment will be set up.

The establishment of a provincial tea industrial park will also inject new momentum into the tea processing and ecological tourism in Lianjiang in the future, increase the incomes of farmers, as well as assist in targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization efforts, added Wu.

It is estimated that the tea output value of Lianjiang Tea Industrial Park will reach 2 billion yuan by 2021, said a person in charge of the Lianjiang agriculture and rural affairs bureau, adding that 120,000 farmers will be driven to engage in tea planting, whose annual disposable incomes are expected to reach 30,000 yuan.