Chinese Tea Quality Director Explains “Zero-Growth” Action Plan for Pesticides and Fertilizer

The director of China’s tea quality control programsdescribes an industry in transition with a goal of uniformly clean tea.

Zheng Guojian, director of China’s National TeaQuality Supervision and Inspection Center, told World Tea News that7% of China’s tea acreage now meets all export requirements for organic teaimposed by Japan, the European Union and the U.S. National Organics Program.

“China assigns gardens to one of three tiers based oncompliance with standards established by the center,” he explained. Tier 1gardens are certified organic. “Certification is quite stringent, permitting nopesticides and no chemical fertilizer,” he said. Organic production was 182million kilograms last year, a total that has significantly increased in thepast decade.

Half of the county’s tea operations meet lesserrequirements created to curb monoculture and ensure ecological practices. Theseteas are certified as “ecological tea.” There are also strict restrictions onthe use of chemical pesticide and fertilizer in the ecological tier. “It isimportant to emphasize that this tier is readily compliant with puritystandards in the EU, Japan, and other importing nations,” said Zheng. In otherwords, even though this tea may not bear an organic certification, it is stillproduced at a demonstrably clean standard, he said.

Zheng illustrated the point by showing photos ofexpansive rows of tea on a beautifully terraced farm that crowded out all otherplant life. He said, “This farm would not qualify” under rules established to reducerunoff, protect native plant species and wildlife. Chinese companies no longer rewardedand no longer seek growth alone, but focus on aspects such as safety,environmental protection, energy conservation and efficiency, Zheng explained.

In February 2015 China adopted a “zero-growth” actionplan regulating fertilizer and pesticide use by 2020. The goal is toeliminate “excessiveapplication of fertilizer and blind application, which brings about costincrease and environmental pollution. It is urgent to improve fertilizationmethods and improve fertilizer utilization.”

Farmers on the remaining 43% of China’s tea landsemploy traditional techniques that make use of chemical fertilizer andpesticides. China intends to reduce both plant protection chemicals that areused to ward off weeds and pests by 20%, and to reduce non-organic fertilizersby 50% by 2020 on these lands.

The action plan adopted in 2015 notes that in 2013production of chemical fertilizers was 70 million metric tons with 59 millionof that total spread on agricultural lands. Soil fertility is low inmountainous China and the use of fertilizer increased grain production by 40%but the application on average of 8 kilograms per mu (mu is a measure of land,there are 6 mu per acre and 15 mu per hectare) is 2.6 times greater than in theU.S. and 2.5 times greater than EU. Surface application is common with only 30%spread mechanically, according to the action plan.

China concluded “excessive fertilization and blind fertilizationnot only increases agricultural production costs and wastes resources, but alsocauses ploughing and soil acidification.”

As a result of the plan, during the past five years, sizeable acreage has been certified organic and even greater tracts have moved from Tier 3 into Tier 2 (Ecological certified tea), explained Zheng. Production is reduced an average 19% when growers switch to organic practices which requires greater expanse of organic certified acreage.

Pesticides

According to the five-yearaction plan, while pesticides are considered essential for preventing andcuring plant diseases “due to the large amount of pesticides used, andapplication methods that are not scientific enough, it brings about problemssuch as increased production costs, excessive residue of agricultural products,crop phytotoxicity, and environmental pollution.”

Recognizing these problemsChina adopted a “no-growth” mandate and instituted a program to utilize naturalenemies in protecting plants. “Implementing green prevention and controlmeasures such as biological and physical control, and scientifically appliedpesticides to curb the situation in which pests and diseases are aggravated andachieve sustainable management,” reads the actionplan.

Domestic demand remains steady with robust sales ofnew types of tea including non-traditional oolong, greens and black teas.During the next two years he predicted increases in both the size and yields atcertified tea gardens that export tea.

Zheng is pragmatic. The transformation from traditional cultivation will take time but is inevitable because both the domestic market and overseas markets are aligned. Clean tea is the future, he said.

Sources: Zero-GrowthAction Plan (Chinese)

Tea Acreage and Production (2018)

Source: Zheng Guojian

Special thanks to Andrew McNeill at Seven Cups Fine Chinese Tea for translating.