On December 14 in a tea garden in Tangxi Town, Jinhua Economic and Technological Development Zone, Jinhua’s first sitting-operated tea-picking machine, independently developed by Zhejiang Provincial Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, was undergoing a test. With the increasing shortages in the rural labor force and the aging of the population, it has become an urgent problem for tea gardens to mechanize the tea-picking process and reduce labor costs.

After years of research, the research team of the Zhejiang Provincial Agricultural Machinery Research Institute has overcome the core technical difficulties of mechanizing tea picking and has independently developed Jinhua’ first sitting-operated tea-picking machine, which was tested successfully. The machine is controlled by a fully hydraulic system, equipped with self-made blades, and can be operated while seated. Only one person is required for its operation, and the working efficiency is more than three times that of the existing two-person tea-picking machine. By replacing and installing tools such as shears and trimming machines, this machine can achieve multiple functions, improve the mechanized harvesting level of tea gardens, and effectively promote the high-quality development of agriculture. (By Hu Xiaofei — Jinhua Daily, translated by Shen Yingying, edited by Kendra Fiddler)