New professions in rural areas of China have not only helped boost the development of the countryside, but also allowed those who engage in the new areas to significantly increase their income, CCTV reported.

For instance, a veteran agricultural manager is capable of managing 6,000 mu (400 hectares) of fields alone. This work is what Wan Fuxu, who used to be an ordinary farmer, is doing now.

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Dayi county (Photo/CCTV.com)

Wan, from Dayi county, Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province in southwest China, was among the first batch of agricultural managers in the city. He used to cultivate only several mu of his own land. Back then, working in the field as a farmer was a painstaking and low-income job. Like many young people from rural areas across the country, most young people from his village worked outside of the countryside to make a living. It saddened him to see that much of the fertile land was left abandoned.

When Chengdu launched a training program for agricultural managers in 2012, the man signed up and received training on planting techniques, pest control and prevention, and field management.

He also launched an agricultural cooperative to manage the land of farmers collectively. Today, Wan manages 6,000 mu of fields and gains a net profit of 3 million yuan (about $464,400) every year, which is beyond his imagination before he started this new career.

Wan Fuxu (Photo/CCTV.com)

Wan is one of the many agricultural managers in Chengdu. The past years have seen more than 19,000 agricultural managers in the city from all walks of life, such as young farmers, returned migrant workers and college graduates. They have received vigorous support from the municipal government, covering policies on relevant industries, science and technology, funding, and social welfare.

Another new profession is partners of rural entities. Dongzhongdu village in Sishui county, east China’s Shandong province, is a vivid example of boosting rural vitalization with the help of such partners.

Now students from primary and middle schools in nearby cities flock to the village to learn woodworking, pottery and other skills, receiving as many as about 700 students in one day. However, Dongzhongdu was still a poverty-stricken village before 2018.

In that year, Shandong launched measures to attract talents to boost rural vitalization by fostering new types of agricultural businesses, such as modern eco-agriculture and tourism.

Wang Daqiang (Photo/CCTV.com)

Wang Daqiang, who had worked in Beijing for more than 10 years, became one of them. Attracted by the village’s beautiful natural scenery, when he first visited it in 2015, he decided to run an educational research and practice base in the village for elementary and middle school students in nearby regions.

With the help of the local government, he invited more partners for his base, which opened during last year’s May Day holiday. Despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the base received over 30,000 tourists during the five-day holiday, generating revenue of over 1 million yuan. The base has also created over 90 jobs for local residents.

Dongzhongdu village in Sishui county (Photo/CCTV.com)

Over the past two years, more than 170 people have become partners of woodworking workshops, pottery workshops, bookstores, B&B hotels, and other entities in Dongzhongdu, turning the once impoverished village into an internet sensation. The local government also invested nearly 70 million yuan to improve the village’s infrastructure in areas such as water supply, power supply and roads.

Thanks to the emergence of these new professions in rural areas, a growing number of talents will contribute to injecting vitality into the villages.