For three consecutive years, the comprehensive output value has surpassed the 100 billion yuan mark, and the industry scale continues to expand. This is the hard-earned achievement of Sichuan's tea industry.

For multiple consecutive years, the tea garden area, per-unit area output value, and brand influence have been steadily increasing. This is the spirited and upward trajectory of Sichuan's tea industry.

Striving and advancing, the vigorous momentum of Sichuan tea propels it forward, and the blueprint for Sichuan tea to reach new heights again is being realized.

Jumping back to the end of 2022, the Sichuan tea industry achieved a hundred-billion-yuan output value a year ahead of schedule. In response to this, the General Office of the People's Government of Sichuan Province issued the Opinions on Promoting High-quality Development of Refined Sichuan Tea Industry and Enriching the People (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which sets a target of breaking through 200 billion yuan in comprehensive output value for the modern tea industry in Sichuan by 2030, outlining the roadmap for the comprehensive rise of the Sichuan tea industry.

The blueprint is clear, and the roadmap is distinct. Anchoring these objectives, Sichuan launched five major actions: strengthening the base, optimizing processing, enhancing brand recognition, expanding leading enterprises, and improving efficiency. On the new journey of the new era, Sichuan tea is sounding a clarion call for promoting high-quality industrial development and supporting the modernization of agriculture and rural areas, activating a new driving force for the rapid rise of the "Sichuan-branded" characteristic industries.

A roadmap for whole-chain modernization fuels accelerated growth of the Sichuan tea industry.

May 5, the Start of Summer, saw the annual spring-tea dividend distribution ceremony held as scheduled at the Shengbang Specialized Breeding and Cultivation Cooperative in Zhongshan Town, Hongya County, Meishan City. On that day, over a hundred households who joined the cooperative collectively shared more than 30 million yuan from the tea industry's development "pie," with each household receiving an average dividend of over 30,000 yuan.

The day before, at the tea plantation base in Sanguan Village of Wuchang Town, in Leshan City's Jiajiang County, tea farmer Li Zhiwei and his wife were preparing new tea for the impending export season. Currently, the registered export tea bases in Jiajiang have exceed 100,000 mu (approximately 6666.7 hectares), with an annual export volume of more than 26,000 tons, which solidifies the county's position among the top national exporters.

The two scenes surrounding the Start of Summer provide respective answers to the test of the era for the Sichuan tea industry: As another agricultural sector with a hundred-billion-yuan output value, how does Sichuan tea contribute to the advancement of rural revitalization?

The answer lies in the plans of the central and provincial committees: adopting an all-encompassing approach to food, growing and strengthening the "Sichuan-branded" agricultural specialty industries.

The Opinions propose that by 2025, the total tea planting area in the province will stabilize while witnessing continuous increases in output value per mu, with the output value of raw tea projected to reach 40 billion yuan and the comprehensive output value exceeding 130 billion yuan, thereby driving up the income of five million tea farmers, providing employment for three million individuals in the sector, and essentially forming a high-quality development pattern in the tea industry. By 2030, the output value of raw tea is expected to reach 60 billion yuan, with the comprehensive output value exceeding 200 billion yuan, basically establishing Sichuan as a province with a strong modern tea industry.

The goals are deliverable. Since 2014, the comprehensive output value of Sichuan tea has maintained a growth rate of over 10 percent year after year. The province has seen a steady increase in the total tea garden area, with most gardens now entering their peak production phase. Data indicates that each year, over four million tea farmers and more than two million individuals are engaged in activities related to tea cultivation, harvesting, processing and sales.

The focus is more precise. The province centers its efforts around the five major actions of "strengthening the base, optimizing processing, enhancing brand recognition, expanding leading enterprises, and improving efficiency," promotes the steady improvement of quality and benefits in the tea industry across the province, and accelerates the modernization of agriculture and rural areas in Sichuan.

A clear path represents a targeted strategy to address the weaknesses of the Sichuan tea industry and a consistent continuation of past measures. From enhancing the modernization level of tea gardens, improving the processing system, strengthening brand recognition, and nurturing leading enterprises to boosting overall efficiency, a series of measures have been taken with specific targets for shoring up weak links and have proven effective.

In accordance with the requirements of the Opinions, since 2022, Sichuan has comprehensively launched the initiative to establish Sichuan as a province with a strong modern tea industry. Focusing on improving the quality and efficiency of the entire industrial chain, a series of "robust measures" have been introduced, including the construction of tea industry bases, brand development, technological innovation, transformation of achievements, market development, cultivation of main entities, and financial support.

In the past two years, the progress of the tea industry has been incorporated into the assessment and evaluation system for measuring the success of rural revitalization efforts, leading to a growing sense of accountability and stricter regulations. In the tea industry, the food production and operation licensing, record filing, and other market access systems have been continuously improved and strengthened. The identity management systems, encompassing product packaging, labeling, and tracing the origin of fresh leaves, have also seen systematic and standardized improvements. As Sichuan embarks on the new journey of vigorously advancing agricultural and rural modernization and accelerating the construction of a strong agricultural province, its tea industry radiates a distinctive aroma.

The data speaks for itself: In 2022, the comprehensive output value of the tea industry in the province reached 108 billion yuan, ranking third nationwide; in 2023, the comprehensive output value of the province's tea industry exceeded 120 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of over 10 percent, demonstrating an accelerated development pace; during this year's spring tea harvest season, production and sales have been robust across various regions in Sichuan.

Thanks to a slew of measures for quality and efficiency improvement across the entire chain, Sichuan tea has embarked on a fast track of high-quality development.

On March 27, the 20th Mengding Mountain Tea Culture &Tourism Festival commenced in Mingshan District, Ya'an City. At the opening ceremony, some exhibiting villages featuring the integration of tea industry, culture and tourism captured the interest of the attendees.

On April 30, in Yinxing Village, located in Xunsi Town of Junlian County, Yibin City, masters of Chuanhong Gongfu black tea were engaged in a tea competition. Next to them are large areas of standard tea gardens, where black tea was produced. The production process of this black tea could be traced by scanning a QR code.

Since 2022, with a focus on building a province strong in modern tea industry, Sichuan has been unwavering in its commitment to continuously strengthen bases, optimize processing, enhance brand recognition, nurture leading enterprises, and promote integration. At the tea plantations across its lush countryside, a symphony heralding the rise of Sichuan tea is elegantly unfolding.

Strengthening the bases is the first priority. Based on the comparative advantages of over 120 tea-producing counties across the province, leveraging the Southwest Sichuan Early Tea Advantageous Industry Cluster Project, initiated in 2021 as part of the national project for constructing advantageous and special industry clusters, Sichuan accelerates the development of "two belts and two regions," namely, the southwest Sichuan famous and high-quality green tea industry belt, the northeast Sichuan alpine ecological tea industry belt, the south Sichuan gongfu black tea zone, and the central Sichuan jasmine tea zone. Across the province, advanced technologies like cultivating new tea varieties and green production methods are being rapidly promoted, with expanding standardized ecological tea gardens and export tea registration bases. By the end of next year, the area allocated for growing new varieties of high-quality black tea in the province is expected to surpass 500,000 mu (approximately 33333.3 hectares). Also, more than 60 percent of the tea bases operating in the province are projected to adopt standardized and mechanized harvesting methods.

Optimizing processing comes next. Since 2022, targeting for Sichuan Provincial Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd. (Sichuan Tea Group) and 49 other enterprises that are authorized to use the provincial-level regional public brand "Tianfu Bestea," a series of preferential policies have been collaboratively introduced, including electricity use, land use, and subsidies for purchasing processing machinery. Thereby, the tea industry in the province has been quickening the pace of laying out its initial processing and cold chain capacity, as well as transforming and upgrading its facilities and equipment for refined and deep processing, leading to a continuous improvement in the automation, professionalization, and digitalization of the processing chain. Based on this development, the proportion of high-end and superior teas has increased in the Sichuan tea industry's landscape.

The brand of Sichuan tea continues to gain luster. Over the preceding two years, there has been notable advancement in building the provincial-level regional public brand "Tianfu Bestea" and other local public brands such as "Mengding Mountain Tea," "Emei Mountain Tea," "Micang Mountain Tea," "Yibin Early Tea," and "Chuanhong Gongfu Black Tea." The Sichuan tea's development framework, encompassing regional, enterprise and product brands, witnesses ongoing refinement. Moreover, the establishment of demonstration areas for the protection of national- and provincial-level geographical indication products is making steady progress. The traditional advantageous product system, with high-quality green tea as the main product, Gongfu black tea, jasmine tea, and premium dark tea as the auxiliary products, and corresponding brand systems are accelerating to take shape.

Industry leaders rise to the occasion. Through integration, mergers and reorganization, the Sichuan Tea Group has continuously increased its market share and capacity level. Driven by the industry leaders, the "Sichuan Tea Revitalizes Thousands of Villages" initiative has gone deeper, with a proliferation of tea industry collaborative entities involving active engagement of village collectives, specialized farmers cooperatives, family farms, and tea growers. Throughout Sichuan, the number of tea enterprises with annual sales exceeding 100 million yuan has now surpassed 20, some of which have crossed one billion yuan. The province's leading tea companies are emerging, continuously reshaping the national tea industry landscape.

Industrial integration reaches new depths. In most of Sichuan's tea-growing regions, the ecological advantageous of tea gardens are being utilized to explore deep integration models such as "tourism+" and "ecology+." Such approaches aim to transition from solely selling tea to selling the scenic experience, prompting the swift growth of distinctive family teahouses, leisure tea estates, themed tourist areas, and specialized tea cities.

Quality and efficiency improvement throughout the chain, coupled with the accelerated expansion of the industry chain, are propelling Sichuan tea to embark on a fast track of high-quality development.

Innovative interest linkage mechanism boosts tea farmers' incomes.

In late April, the spring tea harvest concluded successfully at the 10,000-mu tea mountain of Shuyun Selenium-rich Ecological Tea Base in Sanqingmiao Village, Gujun Town, Wanyuan City, Dazhou. Preliminary calculations indicate that during this year's spring tea season, the base helped over 5,000 tea-farming households increase their per capita income by over 10,000 yuan through fresh leaf procurement, processing operations, and other means. Adjacent to the base, the Wanyuan Modern Agricultural Tea Park, spanning over 12,000 mu (800 hectares) of premium tea gardens, has attracted eight leading companies to settle, enabling local tea farmers to export their products worldwide directly from their doorstep.

Concurrently, in tea-producing areas like Rongxian County in Zigong, local authorities proactively invited buyers participating in the 13th Sichuan International Tea Expo in advance for early negotiations. This move facilitated timely purchases of fresh tea from local farmers.

As Sichuan Province advances the high-quality development of its tea industry, what strategies should it employ to enhance tea farmers' income levels and expand Sichuan tea's sales channels? In response to these challenges, Sichuan is exerting efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of tea cultivation and broaden the industry's marketing avenues.

Efforts are made to improve the efficiency of tea farming. In the past two years, the province has focused on enhancing tea farmers' skills by conducting multiple rounds of technical training to cultivate a group of skilled and professional tea growers. Additionally, it has improved harvesting methods by advocating for mechanized operations, such as machine harvesting and machine pest prevention, to ensure the complete harvest of spring, summer and autumn tea crops, thus resulting in labor savings, cost reduction and increased efficiency, ultimately translating into increased incomes for tea farmers.

Efforts are made to innovate interest linkage mechanisms. Sichuan explicitly highlights a "high quality, favorable price" strategy, widely advocates for models such as "contract farming" and "company + base + specialized farmers cooperatives + households," and progressively institutes interest linkage mechanisms, including guaranteed minimum purchase prices, quality-based pricing, and graded procurement systems, motivating tea growers towards seeking local employment opportunities. In particular, by harnessing the role of rural collective economic organizations, Sichuan explores establishing a community with shared interests that closely connects leading enterprises and planting households, with collective economic organizations serving as the pivotal bridge. In regions like Leshan and Yibin, collective economic organizations have established a tea industrial development interest linkage mechanism with farmers, which features "rent for land transfer, wages for work in the industry, cash for operations, and dividends for shares," enabling tea farmers to earn more substantial rewards from tea planting, harvesting and selling.

Efforts are made to expand the multiple functions of agriculture. In harmony with the layout of tea-producing areas, Sichuan propels the integrated growth of tea, tourism and wellness sectors, aligning with contemporary needs and trends. The province encourages farmers in tea-producing areas to venture into associated business formats, including tea-themed homestays and distinctive bed-and-breakfasts, to diversify income sources from related industries. Currently, in traditional green tea-producing areas such as Ya'an, Yibin, Leshan, and Guangyuan, tourism revenue has emerged as a significant income source for tea farmers in addition to their earnings from tea sales.

Efforts are made to build a marketing network. Sichuan leverages the regional tea product trading markets and exhibition platforms for regional brands like "Tianfu Bestea" to continuously strengthen distinctive tea trading centers and other transaction platforms. Having been held for over a decade, the Sichuan International Tea Expo has successfully transitioned into the largest tea trade show in Sichuan and the broader southwest region. Additionally, with "Tianfu Bestea" at the forefront, Sichuan's tea brands have collectively penetrate the domestic and international markets, steadily accelerating their expansion beyond Sichuan and into global markets.

With a clear vision, resolute strides, and well-defined measures, Sichuan is rapidly advancing toward a province strong in the modern tea industry.