During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Hunan's oil-tea camellia industry achieved high-quality development, with an annual total output value reaching 93.4 billion CNY, according to a press conference held by the provincial government for the 2nd Hunan Oil-tea Camellia Festival on August 25. It is planned that by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), the annual comprehensive output value of oil-tea camellia industry in the province will exceed 150 billion CNY with an average annual increase of over 10 billion CNY.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), Hunan has been allocated a cumulative total of over 5.2 billion CNY from central and provincial government sources to support its oil-tea camellia production. On average, 500,000 mu (about 33,333 hectares) of new plantations were added and 900,000 mu (60,000 hectares)) of low-yield forest were renovated each year, steadily promoting the cultivation of oil-tea camellia resources. Central government-subsidized demonstration projects for the development of oil-tea camellia industry have been established in Zhuzhou, Hengyang, Yongzhou, Shaoyang, and Huaihua cities, leading to sustained high and stable yields. By the end of 2024, among the province's 122 counties, county-level cities, and districts, there are 98 with oil-tea camellia plantation area exceeding 10,000 mu (about 666 hectares), 59 with plantations exceeding 100,000 mu (about 6,666 hectares), and 16 with plantations exceeding 500,000 mu (about 33,333 hectares).

In the next five years, Hunan will firmly uphold its responsibility as the nation's largest oil-tea camellia producer, planning to add 1.05 million mu (70,000 hectares) of new oil-tea camellia plantation area and implement young forest trending and low-yield forest renovation across 5 million mu (333,000 hectares). To address challenges such as the bottleneck in mechanized oil-tea camellia harvesting, the province will launch a number of key oil-tea camellia machinery projects to tackle technical hurdles in this regard. According to the plan, by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the province's oil-tea camellia plantation area will maintain at around 24 million mu (1.6 million hectares), with camellia oil production exceeding 560,000 tonnes and an annual comprehensive output value surpassing 150 billion CNY. 

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn. 

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn