He first encountered and immediately fell in love with coffee trees when he visited a relative in Pu'er City, Yunnan. Official statistics showed Pu'er had a coffee planting area of about 52,300 hectares with an output of 57,000 tonnes in the previous season. Just like many of them, Cai's life has greatly improved through coffee planting, although he had a difficult time cultivating the crop. According to the Yunnan International Coffee Exchange, 80 percent of Pu'er coffee is exported to more than 30 countries and regions such as the United States and Germany. "Planting coffee is arduous, but it has indeed improved my life and is my moral support," Cai said.

Source: The Star October 07, 2020 18:00 UTC