Oil tea cultivation benefiting Guizhou farmers

Villagers drying oil tea fruits. [Photo by Wang Chunliang /Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Farmers are busy gathering, transporting and drying the camellia oil tea fruit that is grown at the Oil Tea Ecological Park of Yiguang Mountain Forest in Longli county, Guizhou province. The harvest season has just begun.

Over 3,000 acres of unused land have been converted to ecological oil tea growing in the Yiguang Mountain Forest Oil Tea Ecological Park in recent years, making efficient use of local resources.

Local villagers now have job options thanks to this project, which has raised their income and encouraged rural revitalization.

Currently, one of Guizhou province's biggest, most standardized, and best-run oil tea cultivation bases is the Yiguang Mountain Forest Oil Tea Ecological Park.

Villagers drying oil tea fruits. [Photo by Wang Chunliang /Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Because oil tea takes a long time to produce, the ecological park also grows medicinal fruits and herbs, following the development paradigm of "leveraging the mountains to support the mountains and using short-term crops to support long-term ones."

In Guizhou's hilly areas, this method has emerged as a cutting-edge illustration of contemporary, effective agriculture.

Villagers drying oil tea fruits. [Photo by Wang Chunliang /Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guizhou Academy of Sciences, and Guizhou University are among the research organizations that have recognized the Yiguang Mountain Forest Oil Tea Ecological Park as an experimental foundation for oil tea cultivation. In addition to teaching more than 600 experienced farmers and more than 3,000 "technology disseminators" planting and breeding methods, it has been used as a trial ground for ecological, mountain, circular, and three-dimensional agriculture.

Yang Xutong contributed to this story.

Villagers drying oil tea fruits. [Photo by Wang Chunliang /Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]