With a history of more than 2,000 years of cultivation, this tree can produce "liquid gold", which helps my country's edible oil production capacity

Camellia oleifera is a woody edible oil tree species unique to my country. It is known as one of the world's four major woody oil plants along with olive, oil palm and coconut. It has a cultivation history of more than 2,000 years in my country. It is mainly distributed in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei, Guizhou, Henan, Sichuan and other places.

In recent years, Yuping Dong Autonomous County of Tongren City, Guizhou Province has made full use of barren hills and slopes, front and back yards, and edge of fields to plant tea oil trees. At the same time, it has actively cooperated with universities and research institutes to increase the cultivation of tea oil trees, establish tea oil seedling bases, scientific research bases, tea oil processing, and develop tea oil ecological tourism, promoting continuous increase in local farmers' income and achieving good ecological, economic and social benefits. Yuping Dong Autonomous County is known as the "Hometown of Chinese Tea Oil Trees".

Guangshan County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, implemented the "One-acre Tea Planting in Front of and Behind Houses" project with the development model of "company + base + cooperative + farmer", which gave birth to 60,000-acre and 50,000-acre oil-tea bases, driving nearly 300,000 farmers to increase their income and become rich. Today, the barren mountains of the past are covered with green, beautifying the countryside, bringing not only ecological benefits but also economic benefits, achieving a "win-win" situation. The forest coverage rate of the county has increased to 45.85%, and "Guangshan Blue" is well-known in the Central Plains. It has successively won the honorary titles of "China's Natural Oxygen Bar County", "National Key County for the Development of Oil-tea Industry", and "China's Oil-tea Hometown".

In Paishi Town, Yangxin County, Huangshi City, the mountains of tea trees are covered with flowers and fruits, presenting a unique scene of "mountains full of fruits and flowers".

Camellia oleifera seeds have a high oil content. The vegetable oil that can be extracted from the seeds has high nutritional and health value and is known as "liquid gold". Vigorously developing camellia oleifera can effectively increase my country's edible oil production capacity. Camellia oil can also be used in medicine, cosmetics, and modified oils and fats through refining to achieve high-value utilization. The cake residue from camellia oleifera seed processing can be further processed to extract tea saponin, tea cake fertilizer, tea seed protein, tea seed polysaccharide and other products, which are used in daily chemical industry, dyeing, papermaking, chemical fiber, textile, pesticide and other fields. For example, camellia oleifera saponin is a very good surfactant and foaming agent with strong decontamination ability. It is not only widely used in chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries, but also can be used to produce shampoo, detergent, food additives, purifiers and foaming agents used in fire extinguishers.

Promoting the development of the oil tea industry will help achieve a beautiful ecology and rich people, open up a channel for converting green mountains and clear waters into gold and silver mountains, transform ecological advantages into economic advantages, and promote the formation of a long-term mechanism for the green development of the rural economy.

Review expert: Gao Zhiling, Professor of College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University

China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Xinhuanet

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