Aerial photo of Maozhushan village in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Photo: IC

A national political advisor has suggested rural areas in China seek to create a working environment to draw talent; and boost the salaries of agricultural workers as steps to realize rural revitalization.

Young Chinese people are increasingly returning to their hometowns, some in rural areas to start business. According to statistics, a total of 10.1 million people returned to their hometown to work in 2020, according to Zhang Yiwu, a professor of Chinese language and literature at Peking University, who is also a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times. 

However, for those young people, returning home from larger cities is often not straightforward with limited training opportunities for self-employed people, said Zhang. He suggested local governments to set up system hiring, evaluating and encouraging talent to work in rural areas. 

He also called for  the creation of a nation-wide training program for talent working in rural areas. Zhang noted that some young people raised in villages have little experience in connecting with big cities. A training program can help talent in rural areas to start digitally connected businesses to improve income in rural areas.

The word “rural revitalization” has become a focal point at this year’s Two Sessions. Many political advisors and legislators have put forward similar proposals on how to help villages attract talent; leverage the digital economy, and called for big corporates to play a key role in realizing rural revitalization. 

Wang Caiyun, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), who is also an employee at China's leading dairy maker Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co, told the Global Times that the company is doing its utmost to improve the business environment in rural areas.  

Focusing on problems such as limited access to technology and difficulties accessing finance for local farmers and herdsmen, Yili has launched technical services, financial support, industry promotion, high-quality forage, dairy quality and industry empowerment to help those people solve problems. 

Since 2014, Yili has provided financial support to tens of thousands of farmers and herdsmen, making available a cumulative financing amount of more than 110 billion yuan ($15.81 billion); helping them increase the overall daily yield of dairy cows by more than 10 kilograms, while the cost of producing milk per kilogram has also been reduced , Wang said. 

Wang said through upgrading local industrial chains, the company has helped 5 million farmers and herdsmen generate more income.