Harvesting technology used as poverty alleviation in south China

Cutting-edge planting and harvesting technology is being used to cultivate Camellia oleifera, also known as oil tea plants, in several townships across Longchuan.

GUANGDONG (Reuters) - New harvesting technology is being used in Longchuan County, in south China’s Guangdong Province, as a means of poverty alleviation.

Guangdong Province still has a contrast between the urban and rural divide. Throughout the province’s countryside, many villages remain impoverished, with communities relying on traditional forms of farming.

In mid-June, a village located in Longchuan County was wiped out by severe flooding, however that tragedy led to the introduction of new technology.

Cutting-edge planting and harvesting technology is being used to cultivate Camellia oleifera, also known as oil tea plants, in several townships across Longchuan.

Following the implementation of the new tech, the planting area of the herb has doubled, allowing for even greater output.

"Because this village has a tradition of planting oil-tea Camellia, we decided to make this the leading industry for poverty alleviation. Through joint efforts by the local government, we’ve transformed the village’s infrastructure and appearance. Large scale infrastructure development and road facilities have also been carried out. The effort has greatly improved public facilities," said Wang Tianyi, Changzhou Village’s first secretary.

Agriculture firm XinHui Biotech is behind the recent success.

Four years ago they began their efforts on research and development.

By 2019 their technology’s single day output became the equivalent of 100 days of human labor.

"Poor households within our company will be given free training on the technology, and will be provided with free fertilizer. We promise to buy back their tea fruits first. We give priority to poor households when employing people, and hope to eventually help them get out of poverty and become rich," said Luo Biqun, general manager of Xinhui Biotech.

Before, farmers had to manually pick and peel seeds.

"We used to use traditional methods to peel oil tea grain here in our village. Now we’re using new technology and have boosted our selling price.

The new tech has brought us wealth. The automated technology simplifies the process," said Luo Yuxu, an oil tea plant farmer in Changzhou Village.

These poverty alleviation efforts are in line with China’s goal to promote the Camellia oleifera industry, as many companies are developing shelling and drying technologies for them.