County in E China's Zhejiang increases tea growers' income by promoting carbon sink trading

Songyang county in Lishui city, east China's Zhejiang Province is working to achieve the high-quality development of the tea industry by deeply exploring its ecological value.

On March 27, a tea cooperative in Xiexikeng village of Songyang county traded 500 tonnes of carbon sinks with the Beijing Municipal Road and Bridge Technology Development Co., Ltd. The deal was worth 20,000 yuan ($2,900).

Aerial photo shows a tea garden in Songyang county, Lishui city, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Songyang County Committee)

It is the first tea garden carbon sink trading ever completed in Songyang.

"The trading of carbon sinks has made local tea growers realize that in addition to selling tea leaves, they can also benefit from the sound ecological environment of their tea gardens. This provides a new channel for the county to develop the collective economy, and gives local tea growers a new way to increase their income," Zhang Zhe, vice mayor of Songyang county, said at a press conference on the realization of tea gardens' carbon sink value held on the same day.

The carbon sinks from tea gardens are generated mainly in two ways: the tea trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen while growing; and low-carbon activities in production, such as the use of organic and green fertilizers, help improve the quality of the soil and increase the content of organic matter in the soil, thus increasing the level of carbon sinks.

Hu Yu, an associated research fellow with the Research Center for Rural Economy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that compared to the trading of carbon emissions quotas generated by companies' voluntary reduction of emissions, the procedures and formalities needed in the transaction of carbon sinks generated from tea gardens are much simpler, and the calculation of carbon sinks is much easier.

In recent years, Songyang county has made continuous efforts to extend and improve its tea industrial chain. (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Songyang County Committee)

In recent years, Songyang has been working to exploit the value of tea garden carbon sinks and exploring ways to turn its ecological value into wealth and increase the income of local tea growers.

In 2018, Songyang built a tea leaf carbon neutrality experiment base, which is the first of its kind in the world, through its partnership with the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Last year, Songyang signed a cooperation framework agreement with the Research Center for Rural Economy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on the construction of low-carbon tea gardens, and a mechanism on realization of the carbon sink value of tea gardens.