Farmers pick tea leaves at a tea garden in Longwu town, Xihu district, Hangzhou. [Photo/ zj.zjol.com.cn]

Longwu town in Xihu district, Hangzhou, recently used drones to help tea farmers transport tea leaves down hills to reduce the human labor costs and keep the tea leaves fresh.

Previously, workers had to carry baskets of newly plucked tea leaves down the hills, which usually took 90 minutes for a round trip. The lengthy procedure was not helpful for keeping the tea leaves fresh.

With drones it only takes drones 2 minutes to take the leaves down a hill, thus guaranteeing their freshness. 

This will help to maintain a stable price for tea during the COVID-19 outbreak compared with the price in 2019, said Shang Jiannong, president of the Xihu Longjing Tea Industry Association. 

He noted that Xihu district will spend 3 million yuan ($428,896) buying insurance and preventive medical supplies for tea farmers, which will also help to decrease labor costs and thus stabilize the price of tea amid the outbreak.

According to Shang, since the beginning of winter, the climatic conditions have been favorable for growing tea leaves. 

In addition, Xihu district has used rapeseed cake to fertilize the oil for the past two years, so the output of this year's spring tea will basically hold the line while the quality of this year's tea leaves will be better than last year, Shang said.

During the outbreak, tea farmers are facing challenges in selling tea leaves. Customers used to come to tea gardens, try stir-frying the tea and buy tea leaves on the spot. But the coronavirus crisis has decreased the number of customers coming to tea gardens.

To address this problem, Xihu district is encouraging companies to expand their online sales services. On March 20, Xihu district will hold a live-broadcast tea promotion to help tea companies through their difficulties.

A drone carries a basket of newly-pluck tea leaves down the hill. [Photo/ zj.zjol.com.cn]

Tea gardens in Longwu town, Xihu district, Hangzhou [Photo/ zj.zjol.com.cn]