China's technicians work alongside farmers nationwide supporting and enhancing application of new technologies

A total of 289,800 technicians have been dispatched to work alongside farmers since 2012, which has greatly facilitated the application of new technologies into production and has helped to further bolster rural vitalization.

Photo ① shows Guo Huangping (C) introducing new technology to fruit growers. (Photo/People's Daily) Photo ② shows a technician inspecting the progress in growing some medicinal materials. (Photo/People's Daily) Photo ③ shows Zhou Quanshui (L) providing assistance to a farmer. (Photo/People's Daily)

Guo Huangping, head of the pear research group at north China's Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, is one of these enterprising technicians. In 2000, Guo selected Xi county in Shanxi as an ideal place for the cultivation of a new species of pear.

"The high altitude and large temperature difference in Xi county in Lyuliang Mountain are conducive to improving the sweetness of pears," introduced the 62-year-old Guo, who contributed greatly to the large-scale planting of pears in Xi county by implementing high-quality cultivation, storage and preservation techniques.

Pear planting has nowadays been promoted in Xi county as a way to increase growers' incomes. So far, the planting area of pears in the county jumped from 3,000 mu (200 hectares) 10 years ago to more than 300,000 mu.

In addition to disseminating new technologies, the technicians can also help fruit growers to overcome any technical difficulties they might encounter.

Last year when citrus fruit flies perplexed Mao Shengyou, who contracted more than 300 mu of citrus orchards in a village in Taihu county, east China's Anhui province, experts from the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences formulated a prevention and control plan, while Zhou Quanshui, senior agricultural technician at the Taihu county planting service center was responsible for its implementation.

"We set up a fly glue trap at every 2 or 3 square meters, which means 100-200 pieces of trap per mu. Fruit fly sticky balls were also used," Zhou explained.

"All fields of agriculture need technical support. In the past, it was said that agricultural science and technology should be utilized in the fight against poverty. Now it is more precise to say that new technologies should be adopted in the vitalization of rural areas," said Zhao Wanping, vice president of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Zhao explained that, for instance, in order to identify a better source of seeds, technicians will be needed to develop new seed breeding technology.

"In order to achieve rural vitalization, agricultural technicians must work in the rural areas. China should adopt policies to encourage technicians to combine practical experiences with laboratory studies. In this way, new technologies can be put into production more quickly," Zhao suggested.