Have you ever seen a "root bouldering"? A small seed falls into a crack in the stone, relying on the unique growth environment, gradually digging the root system deep into the soil, absorbing nutrients and growing into a towering tree. In the Hainan rainforest, there are many similar wonders. What is the business model of the ecological farm adjacent to the tropical rainforest to achieve the harmonious coexistence of man and nature?
Through the layers of clouds and mist over Baishali Autonomous County, overlooking the crater that was born hundreds of thousands of years ago, rows of tea trees are born along the slope, intertwined into soft green silk threads, meandering to outline the charming posture of the earth.
Baisha Wuli Road Organic Tea Garden.
"Good agricultural products are born from good land." Zeng Fanjing, deputy general manager of Hainan Natural Tea Co., Ltd., said with emotion while inspecting the growth state of tea trees. In 2016, the company began to build an organic tea garden in the crater, relying on the unique climate of the crater here, it has produced the "crater tea" that is well-known at home and abroad, and the tea garden has been rated as a national ecological farm in 2022.
"To develop large-scale agriculture, we must adjust the water and fertilizer conditions of the soil. But in order to produce healthy and safe tea, we insist on using 100% organic fertilizer. Zeng Fanjing said that in order to allow the tea trees to fully absorb the nutrients, they let the land eat a "big meal" first - selected sheep manure from the Hulunbuir grassland, organic and pollution-free soybean meal, peanut cake and fish and shrimp from the deep sea, these raw materials are fully fermented, rotted, and applied to the tea garden, which can increase the content of soil organic matter, promote the breeding of soil microorganisms, and ensure a good ecological environment of the soil.
Good soil depends on the careful "feeding" of people. In order to produce green and organic agricultural products, many ecological farms in central Hainan generally let the land eat "nutritious meals" first.
Earthworm mushroom package cultivated in Baisha Wuli Road Organic Tea Garden. Photo by Hainan Daily reporter Li Tianping
For example, the Baisha Wuli Road Organic Tea Garden obtains fast-acting fertilizer through earthworm farming, which can improve the soil; Coconut Fairy Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Shuiman Township, Wuzhishan City, has explored a set of planting concepts of "forest tea mutual nourishment" and "grass tea symbiosis" for many years, that is, the use of native forest trees to shade the scorching sun, care for shade-tolerant, temperature-loving, moisture-loving tea trees, and retain the ground leguminous and ginger plants during artificial weeding, and use them to fix nitrogen and remove insects; Located in Hongmao Town, Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan Fenghe Agricultural Company's Four Seasons Picking Research Base continuously monitors soil moisture, temperature and conductivity through sensors inserted into the soil......
In addition to improving the soil, it is also important to find "good neighbors" for crops.
Agriculture is by no means merely about the benefits of the land. "We also need to harness the synergy of species, as well as the cycles of nature." Zeng Fanjing said that the organic tea garden of the Natural Tea Company also planted betel nuts, coconuts, osmanthus and other plants around the area and among the tea trees, and raised chickens, ducks and geese and other poultry to use biodiversity to achieve the effect of preventing pests. As for the weeds in the tea plantation, they will naturally compete with the tea trees for fertilizer and water space, and the natural tea company will cut them down and cover them near the roots, and the weeds will become the "friends" of the tea trees.
◎Source: Hainan Daily
◎ Reporter: Liu Ningyue