Jasmine flowers generate wealth for growers in SE China's Fuzhou

Jasmine and iced soy milk, jasmine bracelets and jasmine sachets... This summer, creative products with jasmine as part of them are all the rage in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province.

The jasmine flowers are mainly from a jasmine plantation in Huangshi village of Changle district, Fuzhou. Jasmine flowers have become a cash cow for local growers.

Farmers pick jasmine flowers at a plantation in Huangshi village of Changle district, Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Photo courtesy of the convergence media center of Changle district)

Jasmine flowers recently entered their harvest season at the plantation.

Lin Minying, an executive of a local jasmine tea company which operates the plantation, said the harvest season lasts from late May to mid-October.

With the planting area for jasmine reaching 350 mu (about 23.33 hectares), the plantation produces 100,000 kg of jasmine flowers and more than 6,500 kg of jasmine tea a year, generating a total output value of over 12 million yuan (about $1.67 million).

Photo shows processed jasmine flowers. (Photo courtesy of the convergence media center of Changle district)

Lin said her husband's great grandfather started to grow jasmine in 1923, and the family has been engaged in the business since then. Ten years ago, the price of jasmine tea plummeted and many local growers shifted to planting fruits and vegetables.

Lin and her husband, Lin Yongguang, closed their clothing store and began engaging in jasmine cultivation. At first, they planted jasmine flowers on 40 mu of farmland. Through land transfer, they gradually enlarged the planting area.

In September 2013, Lin Yongguang established a jasmine cooperative. The couple was the first in the city to open an online store to sell jasmine seedlings.

In November 2014, the jasmine tea scenting process of Fuzhou was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage of China. With this as an opportunity, the couple spent a lot of money buying tea processing machines to carry out the deep processing of jasmine tea, and registered a trademark to cultivate a tea brand of their own.

Workers weigh jasmine flowers they harvested. (Photo courtesy of the convergence media center of Changle district)