Wuyishan National Park aims to grow sustainable tea sector

Editor's note: As protection of the planet's flora, fauna and resources becomes increasingly important, China Daily is publishing a series of stories to illustrate the country's commitment to safeguarding the natural world.Scientific advances and restrictions on land use are helping to raise the incomes of local growers and protect the environment. Hu Yumeng reports.

In recent years, the Wuyishan National Park, renowned for its breathtaking landscapes and revered tea industry, has taken significant steps to safeguard its traditional tea heritage and industry, while embracing technological advances to empower farmers and raise the incomes of local people.

Home to one of China's largest and most diverse subtropical forests, Mount Wuyi is the only place in the country where Wuyi rock tea is grown.

"Wuyi rock tea, known for its mineral-rich floral aroma, possesses a distinctive and crucial fragrance that comes from the unique soil and rocks of the region," said Huang Shengliang, an inheritor of China's national-level intangible cultural heritage of Wuyi rock tea craftsmanship. "Only tea planted in our rocky soil can produce such a distinctive taste."

With tea cultivation dating back over 1,000 years, the mountain's tea industry has a rich history. The area has been providing tea for people at home and abroad since the first century CE, and in the 18th century, Wuyi rock tea was the most popular tea in Europe.

However, its popularity was gained at a cost to the local environment. Illegal land reclamation of tea mountains and the destruction of plant resources have occurred frequently, damaging the environment in the area around Mount Wuyi.

The need to strike a balance between farmers' livelihoods and the local environment has emerged as a unique challenge for the Wuyishan National Park, which covers 1,280 square kilometers as it straddles the eastern provinces of Fujian and Jiangxi. It was established in 2021 as one of the first batch of China's national parks.

The park authorities said the facility has a tea cultivation area of 34.54 sq km, accounting for 2.7 percent of its total expanse.

The authorities have cooperated with tea experts to devise a holistic strategy for the protection and improvement of the Mount Wuyi tea industry and biodiversity, ensuring the sector's sustainability for generations to come.

Modern methods

Since 2018, two years after the Wuyishan National Park pilot program was launched, about 20 sq km of illegally reclaimed tea mountains had been reforested, including more than 5.7 sq km within the park's boundaries.

Despite restrictions preventing local growers from expanding existing cultivation areas or using new parcels of land, the park remains committed to supporting the local tea industry and improving the farmers' lives.

Now though, the emphasis has shifted toward sustainable tea cultivation practices, including optimizing existing plantations and improving the quality of Wuyi Rock tea.

By prioritizing quality over quantity, the farmers can maintain their market competitiveness while safeguarding the environmental integrity of Mount Wuyi.

"In order to better protect the forest, we must respect and preserve the existing areas for the locals to plant and live on, but further expansion has been restricted," said Huang Zhimin, a researcher with the park's management bureau.

"However, existing tea growers and merchants can continue their operations because we prioritize the livelihoods and well-being of the local community."

Leveraging technology

Embracing sustainable agricultural practices is at the core of improvement efforts for the park's tea industry. Growers are encouraged to minimize the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers, and employ organic and natural alternatives to protect the ecosystem and consumers' health.

Eco-friendly terraced plantations that use the "tea forest" and "tea grass" models have been introduced to the park. Moreover, the authorities provide farmers with free seedlings of precious broad-leaved trees such as nanmu, yew and ginkgo, which encourages intercropping with tea bushes. This practice not only protects local biodiversity, but also improves the quality of the tea by providing natural shade for the leaves as they grow.

To improve the quality of both soil and tea, an eco-friendly approach has been adopted on the farms in which tea is interplanted with soybeans and rapeseed.

The Wuyishan National Park has established 267 hectares of eco-friendly tea plantations, according to its management bureau, and each tea-planting household has reduced its annual use of fertilizer by an average of 6 metric tons.

The park's authorities have been working with tea experts to improve production and quality through the use of innovative technological methods.

Since the 1990s, more than 1,000 special sci-tech experts have been sent to Fujian to support local agriculture.

Liu Guoying arrived in the first batch. "What I have done in recent decades is help farmers and businesses improve the quality of the tea," said Liu, who is a household name in the area for his expertise in the production of Wuyi rock tea.

"Our team works closely with the farmers, teaching them how to manage tea plantations effectively and refine their tea-growing skills. By raising the overall quality of our tea, we can command higher prices, which boosts profits for the farmers."

Yang Wenchun, a local tea farmer, said, "In the past, we lacked knowledge of scientific tea field management, which resulted in teas of average quality that were only suitable for basic daily consumption.

"Now, we have embraced scientific approaches. During the summer, we plant soybeans which helps improve our overall productivity. As a result, the quality of our teas has risen significantly and they are proudly served to honor esteemed guests and cherished companions in pleasant social interactions."