County in China’s Yunnan establishes rural talent pool of skilled farmers in push for common prosperity

Before 2008, Liu Qing, a farmer in Zhenyuan county, Pu’er city of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, made a living by working as a migrant worker. However, he was unable to accumulate much savings despite all the various jobs he undertook.

In 2015, before he was about to establish his own tea business, Liu received special training on the management of ancient tea trees. With the techniques he learned, Liu could grow high-quality tea trees, becoming a talent in the area of tea cultivation in the locality.

Photos shows a tea plantation in Zhenyuan county. (Photo/Media Convergence Center of Zhenyuan county)

The man also took the initiative to establish a farmers’ cooperative, which helps local tea growers to sell their tea leaves and provides job opportunities for some farmers while teaching them tea-growing techniques.

Liu also learned livestreaming at a farmers’ vocational school. Nowadays, tea leaves from the cooperative are sold to places outside Yunnan Province, including those in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province.

In recognition of Liu’s capabilities and to encourage him to make greater contributions to promoting common prosperity in the locality, Liu’s village recommended him for a spot in the county’s rural talent pool.

Initiated at the end of 2019, the rural talent pool gathers together skilled farmers who have gotten rich earlier than others, and with it the local government hopes to encourage these excellent farmers to help their fellow villagers, introduced Ai Chongshui, head of the human resources and social security bureau of Zhenyuan county.

“People who we recommend must have expertise in certain fields, be enterprising, and be widely recognized by their fellow villagers,” explained Ai, who added that about 15,000 farmers in the county have been included in the rural talent pool.

“After the talent pool was established, we divided the rural talents into two types—those who have become rich earlier than others and those who need trainings in order to further improve their skills,” said Ai, who also noted that the county has granted low-interest loans to the rural talents in supporting them to expand their businesses. With this support, the rural talents are now active in helping others around them.

Since 2020, Zhenyuan county has offered training for nearly 100,000 people, who nowadays play a vital role in rural rejuvenation in the locality.