Tea-oil tree helps alleviate rural poverty

"We have high-quality tea-oil trees, the fruit of which has a high oil yield. Every year, many buyers from different regions rush to purchase it," said Wang Caifeng, a resident in Longlin county in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

With a long history of tea-oil tree cultivation, Longlin county has a total cultivation area exceeding 11,333 hectares, with an estimated annual output value of more than 80 million yuan. It has become a key force to help local poverty alleviation.

To further boost the development of its tea-oil tree planting industry, the county established an industry-focused poverty alleviation demonstration area in 2018.

Joining hands with local enterprises, cooperatives and farmers, the demonstration area works to expand tea-oil tree cultivation and improve the growing environment of low-production trees. It has helped farmers increase their income in the tea-oil industry by 500-600 yuan ($76.29-$91.56) per mu (666.67 square meters).

Kaichong village is notable for its tea-oil tree planting in Longlin county.

"In the past two years, by expanding the planting area of oil tea, more than 40 poor households have achieved an increased income. In the future, we will promote this project to encourage more locals to plant tea-oil trees," said Huang Jinliang, director of Kaichong village.

Now, the village has a total cultivation area of 733.6 hectares, involving 2,279 residents from 503 households.