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Recently, more than 150 tea pickers from Yingchuan, Shawan and other places in Jingning She Autonomous County have taken the Huiming Tea “Common Prosperity Direct Train” daily to the tea picking base of Zhejiang Qier Tea Industry in Chengzhao Township to pick spring tea, helping the enterprise smoothly navigate the spring tea picking season.
“Thanks to the Huiming Tea ‘Common Prosperity Direct Train’, we have sufficient labor resources this year, which has extended the spring tea picking period by 10 days and increased efficiency by 30%. It is expected that this year’s annual output value will exceed 10 million yuan,” said Ren Weizhong, executive vice general manager of Qier Tea Industry.
In previous tea picking seasons, tea farmers have always been troubled by the difficulty of tea pickers’ travel, such as “county buses can’t reach the tea gardens, and there are many hidden dangers in early-morning cycling by tea pickers”, as well as “tea enterprises facing difficulties in recruiting workers and slow progress in spring tea picking”... This not only affected the progress of spring tea picking, but for tea pickers, it was neither safe nor cost-effective to run back and forth.
To meet the tea-picking demand during the busy season, since this year, Jingning County has put 2 “Common Prosperity Direct Trains” with 19 seats each into operation in core tea-producing areas like Hexi Street and Chengzhao Township, as well as labor-rich “non-tea-producing areas” such as Yingchuan Town and Shawan Town. Two new bus lines—”County Passenger Transport Center—Paradise Lake” and “County Passenger Transport Center—Jitou Reservoir”—have been added, enabling tea pickers to enjoy one-stop commuting from “home door to bus door, and then to tea garden door”.
“We advanced the first departure to 6:00, increased trips at 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning and 5:30 in the afternoon, and boosted the frequency of original bus routes to cover over 80% of tea gardens across the county, “ said an official from Jingning's Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. Since the “Common Prosperity Direct Train” launched, it has transported 1,200 tea pickers daily on average, boosting capacity by 240% compared to original bus routes.
Not only that, the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Jingning County, in collaboration with the Transportation Center, completed the installation of guardrails on the Yushan to Tiantang Lake road section. The township organized tea enterprises to uniformly purchase personal accident insurance for fixed tea pickers, providing all - round protection for the traffic safety of tea pickers.
For tea pickers who work across regions, the convenience of the direct shuttle bus makes it more convenient and less labor - intensive for them to increase their income and get rich. Wang, a villager in Chengzhao Township, calculated an account: By taking the direct shuttle bus to the tea garden to pick tea every day, the daily income can reach 280 yuan, and the income can increase by nearly 17,000 yuan in a single tea - picking season.
The “small - class shuttle bus” has a big impact on people’s livelihood. Since the beginning of this year, the direct shuttle bus has enabled 420 rural surplus laborers and 550 tea pickers in the county seat to achieve cross - regional employment, with a total income increase of 13 million yuan. As of May, the tea output of the county reached 3,260 tons, a year - on - year increase of 13.9%, and the output value was 680 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 21.5%.
The direct shuttle bus is not only a “transportation line” for labor force, but also provides impetus for the upgrading of the tea industry. Relying on the direct shuttle bus, Jingning has established a full - industry - chain employment service system including skills training and labor - employment connection. By inviting industry experts and technical experts to give lectures, the professional skills of tea pickers have been improved.
The relevant person in charge of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Jingning County said that in the future, they will further integrate various resources, explore the “tea - tourism integration” special line, and work together in the joint connection of tea - tourism routes and the sharing of resource elements to promote the high - quality development of the Huiming tea industry.