Liao Hong (central) visits an ecological tea garden on Wuyi Mountain. [Photo provided by Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University]

"My greatest wish is that our scientific research achievements can be more widely used in rural areas," said Liao Hong, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, an agronomist at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, and a science and technology commissioner.

The first session of the 14th National People's Congress is scheduled to open in Beijing on March 5. Liao said she is a new deputy, and she wants to learn from other deputies, listen to more farmers, and bring their suggestions to this year's session.

A few years ago, Liao became the head of a Fujian provincial science and technology commissioner team, which consists of experts who were dispatched to villages to help with poverty alleviation and rural vitalization, and began to explore ways to build eco-friendly tea farms in Fujian province.

After a long period of research, Liao and her team proposed an eco-friendly approach that is comprised of interplanting tea with soybeans and rapeseeds to improve the quality of both the soil and tea. The nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium needed by tea trees are all available using this method, without having to use fertilizer.

The technicians explained the science of this method to tea farmers on Wuyi Mountain. With Liao's careful guidance in recent years, the quality of the tea and the benefits of growing tea have improved a lot, and the environment is getting better each year, helping local farmers achieve rural vitalization.

So far, the demonstration area of ecological tea gardens in Fujian province has reached 666.7 hectares, and more than 1,000 agricultural technicians and 2,000 farmers have been trained.