In the winter time, highly active tea farmers conduct an annual competition for the skill of tea plantation management in each tea plantation district in order to improve their skill mutually.

In Makinohara area, tea farmers carried out the mutual evaluation, so-called “Chaen Kyoshinkai”, with the staffs of JA-Hainan and local civil servants in this winter.

They surveyed around their tea plantations with measuring or observing stated the checkpoints for evaluation, such as amount of tea leaves, size and thickness of leaves, abundance of branches and roots, depth and distribution of roots, etc. as shown in the following photos.

As a result, the tea plantation cultivated by YOKOYAMA Tsuguto was selected as the best tea plantation in this winter. His plantation is depicted below.

Size and thickness of tea leaves is much enough and soil is well-cultivated, resulting in its high potential to keep desirable water condition. This status is very desirable for photosynthesis of tea plants. Thus the distribution of branches looks highly active.

He is one of the member of Katsumata Kaitaku Tea Plantation Cooporative, which Yamamoto-san (as written in the past posts) administers as the union president.

Not only him, all of tea farmers in Makinohara region also continue their great efforts to make much much better, much much higher-grade teas!!