Since the beginning of summer this year, severe drought has struck southern China, with record-breaking high temperatures in many places. How is the drought affecting this year’s summer-autumn tea and next year’s spring tea? How is drought-relief work being carried out? All-media reporters of China Cooperative Times·Tea Weekly learned from tea gardens across the south — in Jiangsu, Hunan, Zhejiang and elsewhere — that as the “high-temperature roasting” pattern persists, tea gardens are enduring an unprecedented trial of scorching heat. In some areas the drought has wiped out the summer-autumn harvest entirely, next year’s spring-tea output is expected to be halved, and tea farmers and enterprises have suffered heavy losses.
Drought raging
Cries of thirst everywhere
This drought has lasted long and spread wide. As of today, the National Meteorological Centre has issued high-temperature warnings for 29 consecutive days. Statistics show that during this round of hot weather, 194 national meteorological stations across the country recorded all-time high temperatures. Forecasts indicate that heat and drought will continue to develop from the Sichuan Basin to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze; with persistent heat and little rain, some riverbanks have been left exposed and cracked, and some small reservoirs are critically short of water.
First of all, the drought and heat have dealt a severe blow to tea-tree growth. Under the blazing sun, tea gardens once full of life now show leaves scorched brown and red, with the tea bushes barely hanging on.
Sun-scorched West Lake Longjing. Photo by Sun Bin
As one of China’s most famous green teas, West Lake Longjing has always drawn close market attention. Its core production area lies in the Xihu District of Hangzhou, Zhejiang (the West Lake Scenic Area), and during the 29 days for which the National Meteorological Centre issued high-temperature warnings, Hangzhou became the provincial capital with the greatest cumulative number of hot days nationwide — a “full count” of 29 days of high temperatures. Ge Jianguo, founder of Hangzhou Gengxiang Tea Farm Co., Ltd. in Zhejiang, explained that the summer heat and drought hit the “Longjing 43” cultivar hardest, mainly because it is planted as clonal cuttings. By comparison, the heirloom West Lake Longjing population variety, with its better-developed root system, resists drought more effectively. Although many Longjing bushes in various areas have turned red — with leaves that crumble at a pinch — the roots have not been affected, and the overall situation remains manageable. Artificial rainfall on August 16 and 17 eased the drought somewhat. As for next year’s West Lake Longjing spring crop, he admitted frankly: “We expect the company’s spring-tea output next year to fall by 20%. Prices of West Lake Longjing as a whole will rise 15% — that is already the general picture.”
Photo courtesy of Hunan Jinjing Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd.
Second, the drought has had an enormous impact on this year’s summer-autumn tea, which is about to be plucked.
Nine cities in Hunan Province issued high-temperature warnings for 29 consecutive days, making the province one of the hardest-hit areas of this drought. When the reporter reached Zhou Changshu, chairman of Hunan Jinjing Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd., at 6 p.m. on August 17, he was on the front lines in the tea gardens directing drought-relief irrigation. He told the reporter he had seen tea leaves scorched by heat before, “but this drought is the most severe ever — nothing like it in decades. A reduced summer-autumn harvest is certain; all we can do is fight the drought and keep the bushes alive.”
Photo courtesy of Hunan Ganfa Tea Industry Co., Ltd.
Places with water available count themselves lucky. Some areas sit near neither river nor stream, and local water resources are critically short — lake levels have fallen and streams have run dry.
Severe drought has caused lake levels to drop. Photo courtesy of Liyang Hengfeng Tea Co., Ltd., Jiangsu
The reporter learned that Huaihua City in Hunan is suffering severe heat and drought, and the drought has caused a critical water shortage. In Huaihua’s order of water use, drinking water comes first, farmland irrigation second — and only then do tea gardens get their turn.
“Right now there is no effective remedy,” said Zhang Ganfa, chairman of Hunan Ganfa Tea Industry Co., Ltd., with resignation. “If it stays clear for a few more days, we may have to change trades.” Hunan Ganfa Tea Industry Co., Ltd. is a leading tea enterprise of western Hunan, with 2,000 mu of tea gardens. “Never mind the summer-autumn tea — next year’s spring crop will probably be halved, with estimated losses of 30 million yuan,” Zhang said.
Photo courtesy of the Shimen County Tea Office, Hunan Province
The reporter also contacted Gong Shibin, an agronomist at the Shimen County Tea Office in Hunan. He said Shimen County has 180,000 mu of tea gardens, of which nearly 10,000 mu are severely affected and more than 30,000 mu of summer-autumn plucking area is impacted — heavy losses. In addition, 257,000 mu of tea gardens in Yingshan County, Hubei, have been affected, with 42,000 mu damaged and direct economic losses of about 1.4 million yuan; in northern Fujian, autumn-tea output is down by about a third, and some gardens have lost their entire harvest.
Long-parched tea gardens need “timely rain”
Seizing favorable conditions to carry out artificial rain-enhancement operations has become the common choice of every locality. These days, the artificial rain-enhancement teams of the Hunan Meteorological Bureau have been “chasing clouds.” As of August 17, Hunan had carried out 155 rain-enhancement operations. In interviews, some Hunan tea enterprises said a little rain did fall on August 17 — but against the overall severity of the drought, it hardly “quenched the thirst.”
It is understood that when temperatures exceed 35°C, tea-tree growth is affected and leaves show scorch damage. In past years, autumn drought usually came in September or October — but autumn temperatures are not high, and the impact on tea trees was far smaller than this time. This year’s drought struck in summer; days of unbroken heat and drought have left many tea leaves completely withered and desiccated, beyond saving. Prolonged heat does even graver harm: young tea bushes, and new plantings from last winter and this spring, have limited tolerance of heat and drought and are easily scorched or even baked to death.
Employees sprinkler-irrigating tea bushes along the riverbank. Photo courtesy of Hunan Baishaxi Tea Factory Co., Ltd.
In interviews, the reporter learned that many tea enterprises have brought out their “long guns and short cannons,” and tea farmers everywhere are actively taking a series of disaster-mitigation measures, using high-pressure water jets and hoses to spray the bushes and cool them down. Zhou Changshu, chairman of Hunan Jinjing Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd., said that company staff and tea farmers are working together against the drought, busy in the gardens morning and evening — the tea bushes need water, the sprinkler systems need operating and servicing, all of it costing enormous effort. Wang Kai, deputy general manager of Hunan Baishaxi Tea Factory Co., Ltd., said the impact has been significant but the situation can still be held for now. Backed by the waters of the Zi River, the company’s employees, braving the blazing heat, have taken drought-relief measures on their own initiative, sprinkler-irrigating the tea bushes along the riverbank — “making rain by hand” to bring the bushes back from the brink.
Photo courtesy of Liyang Hengfeng Tea Co., Ltd., Jiangsu.
Liyang is one of the areas of Jiangsu Province where the drought is severe. Since the start of summer, the city has logged more than 40 cumulative high-temperature days (daily maximum ≥35°C). Qian Jianjun, general manager of Liyang Hengfeng Tea Co., Ltd. in Jiangsu, said: “We can only hope heaven helps us — that rain falls in the next couple of days to ease things, let the tea gardens drink, and maybe they can still be saved.”
Compounded by the pandemic, bitter complaints abound. In interviews, some tea enterprises said, “We’ve caught both natural disaster and man-made trouble at once!” Not only do the tea bushes themselves need a timely rain to survive — the tea market’s predicament of oversupply is also in desperate need of its own “timely rain.”
Fighting the drought scientifically, winning the battle to defend the tea crop
The reporter learned that older tea bushes are less affected by the heat; the most easily scorched are the tender buds and leaves of new plantings, as well as albino tea varieties. In fact, well before temperatures climbed to 40°C, meteorological and agricultural departments across the country had already issued warnings and actively organized tea technicians to publicize and popularize drought-relief measures among tea farmers.
According to the cultivation expert team of the Hunan Tea Industry Technology System, drought damage to tea is graded as mild, moderate, severe and extreme. Mild: some leaves gradually turn yellow-green, with brown spots, slight curling and deformation. Moderate: most tender leaves turn reddish-brown, curl, wilt, scorch and drop, though the apical shoots (one bud with two leaves) are not yet completely dead. Severe: old and young leaves scorch and fall, leaving bare branches, and most branches die — but the main trunk is not yet completely dead. Extreme: the root system dies, all leaves drop, the ground-level lateral branches and the main trunk die, and the whole bush perishes. Judging by current conditions in the tea gardens, most fall in the moderate category — so taking multiple measures together and fighting the drought scientifically must be the top priority now.
Sprinkler-irrigation facilities aid drought relief in tea gardens. Photo courtesy of Hunan Jinjing Tea Industry Group Co., Ltd.
Agricultural experts advise: first, gardens with sprinkler or watering conditions should irrigate before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m., using a gentle, drizzle-like application — avoid flows so heavy that the soil cannot absorb the water in time, producing surface runoff and compacting the soil. Second, cover the garden ground with weeds, rice straw, wood chips and the like, to lower soil-surface temperature and reduce evaporation. Third, erect simple shade canopies to reduce scorch from direct sunlight and lower garden temperatures. Fourth, during sustained heat and drought, avoid garden-management work such as pruning and fertilizing, so as not to aggravate drought damage.
Tea leaves badly drought-stricken, crumbling at a pinch. Photo courtesy of Liqun Family Farm, Chihuai Town, Kaihua, Quzhou, Zhejiang
In the face of disaster, agricultural insurance is the tea farmer’s “peace-of-mind pill.” Yet in interviews the reporter learned that many tea farms have not taken out drought insurance, and local governments have offered no disaster subsidies. Li Qunyong, head of Liqun Family Farm in Chihuai Town, Kaihua, Quzhou, Zhejiang, told the reporter: “The farm has always bought winter ‘freeze insurance,’ but a summer heat-drought like this year’s — no one saw it coming, and it’s too late to insure now!”
When all is said and done, tea is still an agricultural product, and its production still depends on the weather. May the tea industry fight and win this battle to defend the crop under drought, and through human effort keep losses to a minimum — while getting ready for next year’s spring tea to carry its fragrance to ever wider markets.
Produced by: China Cooperative Times·Tea Weekly, All-Media
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Author: Lam Sam (LamSam), the Old Tea Head
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