The Zhejiang Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently issued a guideline to spur the high-quality development of the province's tea industry.

According to the guideline, the total area of tea gardens in the province will remain above three million mu (2,000 square kilometers) while tea output will be maintained at around 200,000 metric tons till 2025. The two figures are currently 3.077 million mu and 198,000 tons respectively.

The tea-related primary-industry revenue per year, which now stands at 25.96 billion yuan ($4.08 billion), is expected to exceed 30 billion yuan by 2025. The tea-related whole industrial chain is expected to generate 150 billion yuan in 2025.

The guideline stipulates that tea industry practitioners should focus on ecological protection, mechanization, digitization, and extension of the industrial chain in the coming years.

Although the province's tea industry will be centered on green tea, the cultivation of red tea, yellow tea, white tea, black tea, scented tea, and matcha will be expanded in the coming years.

File photo: Aerial photo shows farmers working at a tea garden in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/CFP]