Zhou Yu, a deputy to the People's Congress of Changsha county, has helped to propel the development of tea industry in Jinjing town of the county, Central China's Hunan province.

The order-based tea gardens Zhou developed in the town have brought job opportunities as well as fortune to local farmers, csxrmt.com reported on Feb 3.

The Jinjing Tea Factory, a purely tea producer with an annual output value of 10 million yuan in the past, has now grown into a large enterprise integrated with tea cultural tourism, under Zhou's management. It annual output value has leaped to hundreds of millions as of now.

So far, more than 480 regular employees are working for the Jinjing Tea Factory and its affiliated companies. They will also hire 1500 odd workers during peak season for tea production. More than 90 percent of the workers are farmers from the neighboring villages and towns, whose per capita annual income reaches roughly 30,000 yuan.

Zhou, the general manager of the Jinjing Tea Factory, has also provided a stable revenue channel for local farmers through contracting out tea gardens in his production base to local peasant households. A total of 75,000 mu contracted tea field have enrich around 50,000 farmer households.

"We plan to invest over 70 million yuan into the construction of a tea eco expo park and tea technology industrial park for the next stage," Zhou said, adding that he seeks to build a famous modern tea enterprise oriented with increasing incomes for farmers.