A farmer picks tea in Kaihua county, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/qz123.com]

Harvest season for Longding tea recently started in Suzhuang village, Kaihua county, Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, local media reported on March 2.

Due to abundant rainfall and warm climate, the tea picking period came about one week earlier than in previous years.

The county's 125,000 mu (8,333 hectares) of spring tea will be picked and put on the market.

Kaihua county is known as "the home of ecological tea in China", and the tea industry is one of the county's pillar industries.

In 2022, the county's annual tea output was 3,314 metric tons, with an output value of 1.33 billion yuan ($193 million), increases of 2.9 percent and 2.5 percent year-on-year.

In an evaluation of the public brand value of tea in China, Kaihua Longding was valued at 3.17 billion yuan.