FIVE YEARS ON

ENVIRONMENT

Fang did not let them down.

He began selling Youlong organic tea overseas, and began to seek ways to benefit more farmers beyond Youlong.

He set up an agricultural cooperative that has 2,000 hectares of tea gardens along the Xin’an River, of which more than one-fifth meet the organic agricultural standards of the United States and the European Union, and have won certifications that qualify their crops for those markets.

In 2010, a buyer from Germany visited the tea gardens, and was so impressed by the farmers’ rigorous organic planting and the well-preserved natural conditions that he offered them 100,000 euros ($117,600) a year to encourage them to maintain their high standards.

Last year, Fang’s cooperative exported organic tea worth $6 million to the US, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.

In 2012, the government initiated an ecological preservation campaign. Subsidies are provided to encourage farmers to replace chemical fertilizers with organic ones. The subsidy covers almost one-third of the cooperative’s expenditure on organic fertilizers.

The government’s support has buoyed his confidence in the future of the organic tea business. He plans to ensure that all 2,000 hectares of tea gardens meet the requirements of Western markets within 10 years.