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Over the past 20 years, Zhejiang Province has dispatched a total of 39000 science and technology envoys. The vast number of science and technology envoys have helped farmers increase their income by 6.353 billion yuan and enterprises increase their efficiency by 4.51 billion yuan... They have delivered a brilliant science and technology answer sheet in promoting rural revitalization and common prosperity in Zhejiang.

"The key to agricultural and rural work is to increase farmers' income."

In 2003, Zhejiang launched the system of science and technology envoys. Yu Xuping, a senior engineer at the Zhejiang Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has received a notice that he has become a special presence among the first batch of provincial-level science and technology special envoys in Zhejiang - the 101st science and technology special envoy, and has been dispatched to Xiajiang Village, Fengshuling Town.

There are over 20000 villages in Zhejiang, and Xiajiang Village in Fengshuling Town is one of them. Xiajiang Village is very famous. In the past, it was famous for being poor. "A house with earthen walls and half a year's worth of grain, there is a woman who doesn't marry Jianglang." Now, Xiajiang Village is famous for being rich.

Nowadays, Xiajiang Village has embarked on the path of rural revitalization, which is characterized by "green, rich, and beautiful". Photo by Guo Yang, a journalist from People's Daily Online

He held his fingers and counted the input and output accounts with everyone, saying, "What other development difficulties do you still have? Tell them all. Let's discuss countermeasures together."

"Lack of talent!" "Lack of funds!" "Lack of technology!" At that time, in Xiajiang Village, the villagers mainly relied on planting sericulture, tea, and early rice as their main sources of income, but because they were all ordinary goods, they could not sell at a high price. Although traditional Chinese medicine is also planted in the village, it is not on a large scale and the income of the villagers is not ideal.

At that time, the first batch of 100 science and technology special envoys in Zhejiang had completed training and held an expedition ceremony. According to the demand of Xiajiang Village for experts in traditional Chinese medicine, Yu Xuping became the 101st science and technology envoy in Zhejiang Province that year.

The starting point of being a technology envoy is to increase the income of the people, rather than changing places to work on projects and writing several papers to be published in academic journals. Based on the actual situation of Fengshuling Town's large area and scarce farmland, Yu Xuping proposed the idea of developing woody Chinese medicinal materials, with a focus on developing gardenia, which is both a commonly used medicinal material and a natural pigment extraction raw material.

Market research, seedling selection, and breeding... Under the technical guidance of Yu Xuping, in addition to Xiajiang Village, many villages in Fengshuling Town are covered with yellow gardenia flowers, becoming a well-known "hometown of traditional Chinese medicine".

"At that time, the market was very good. Excluding manual labor, the profit from one acre of forest land was about 1500 yuan, which was more profitable than selling bamboo and tea," said Yu Xuping.

Yu Xuping is teaching the villagers the cultivation techniques of Angelica sinensis. Provided by Yu Xuping

Over the past 20 years, Yu Xuping has helped Fengshuling Town Traditional Chinese Medicine Professional Cooperative and other units apply for and implement more than 20 scientific and technological projects. "The total sales of traditional Chinese medicine increased from over 3 million yuan in 2003 to 32.65 million yuan in 2018. The income of the traditional Chinese medicine industry accounted for 21.7% of the per capita income of farmers, which was more than five times that of before I was dispatched." At the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Commissioner Representative Symposium held by the Provincial Party Committee, Yu Xuping shared his work experience and said, "Xiajiang Village awarded me the title of 'Honorary Villager'. This is an inexplicable bond exchanged for genuine feelings, and it is also the most precious wealth in the life of a science and technology worker."

Not just Yu Xuping. Every technology envoy spreads their wisdom and sweat on the land of the countryside.

"I went to the countryside with the original mission of 'writing papers on the land of our motherland'. It has been 20 years now. As long as the villagers need it, I will continue to work as a technology envoy. Ye Minger, the director of the Agricultural Cultural Heritage Research Center of Zhejiang University, has innovated the 'rice fish symbiosis system', which has taken root and blossomed in Lishui, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and other places.".

"My original intention was to let farmers know how to grow blueberries and grow them well, and use the collective wisdom of our research group to improve the production efficiency of blueberries. By staying at our doorstep, we can embark on the road to prosperity," said Liao Fanglei, a technology envoy from Zhejiang Normal University stationed in Tashi Township, Jinhua City.

Nowadays, provincial-level individual special envoys have achieved full coverage in townships and streets in 26 mountainous counties in Zhejiang Province. In 26 counties in the mountainous areas of Zhejiang Province, there are science and technology envoys stationed in every township, and every village has science and technology envoy services.

"Intended to solve the practical technological difficulties and training applicable skills in farmers' production and operation"

In the scorching summer, the scorching sun scorched the pedestrians. In Wutang Village, Wuyi County, the "Zhexiang No. 6" shiitake mushrooms are quietly emerging from the mushroom sticks in the "air-conditioned room", growing into plump shiitake mushrooms.

"Teacher Cai, you're here!" Cai Weiming just walked into Wuyi Innovation Edible Mushroom Co., Ltd., and the staff member Fu Jie greeted him warmly with a wave of his hand.

"Master Fu, where are the mushrooms? How have the shiitake mushrooms grown recently?" Cai Weiming asked proficiently.

"Okay!" Fu Jie replied with a smile.

Cai Weiming is the director of the Horticulture Research Institute of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He came to Wuyi County in 2008 and became a team science and technology envoy here. This work lasted almost 16 years.

Cai Weiming checked the growth of shiitake mushrooms. Photo by Zhang Liwei, a journalist from People's Daily Online

After arriving in Wuyi County, Cai Weiming began conducting market research and visiting farmers, gradually understanding the shortcomings, difficulties, and pain points of the local edible mushroom industry.

The most headache for ordinary people when growing mushrooms is the mushroom stick. As an old mushroom farmer, Fu Jie recalled, "It used to be us buying wood chips, wheat bran, and other raw materials to make our own mushroom sticks. If we didn't buy the materials well, we wouldn't be able to grow the bacteria later on, and it would be a waste of work." Moreover, disinfecting the mushroom sticks was a time-consuming and energy consuming task for the mushroom farmers. "When there were many mushroom sticks, we had to watch the fire for three days and three nights, and someone had to be there all night."

At the suggestion of the special envoy of Wuyi Science and Technology, Wuyi Innovation Edible Mushroom Company was jointly established by the Wuyi Science and Technology Bureau, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the special envoy of science and technology. The company centrally produces mushroom sticks through the construction of specialized production lines, and directly hands the uniformly prepared mushroom sticks to mushroom farmers to cultivate mushrooms, making it easy and secure for mushroom farmers to grow mushrooms. After the first production line was built, it only took half a day for the mushroom sticks to be ordered out.

Rather than saying that Wuyi Innovation Edible Mushroom Company is a company, it is more of a public welfare platform - it does not compete with the people for profit, and all technologies are open to the public for free. Cai Weiming pointed to the mushroom house and said, "Whether it's mushroom stick production or mushroom house construction, as long as the company has the technology and the villagers want to learn, we will teach for free."

Wang Wuping, a member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Bureau of Wuyi County, calculated: "Currently, more than 20 specialized mushroom stick production lines have been built in Wuyi County, benefiting more than 95% of mushroom farmers in the county. The annual production of mushroom sticks is over 38 million, and the cumulative cost savings and efficiency increases of mushroom sticks exceed 230 million yuan."

Mushroom houses, mushroom sticks, and mushroom strains are all in place in one step. Mushroom farmers can plant shiitake mushrooms by contracting the mushroom houses, which is worry free and more profitable. Photo by Xu Bin

Entering the air-conditioned mushroom room, I saw mushroom sticks neatly arranged on the shelves, where the mushrooms were growing in reverse. Traditional shiitake mushrooms usually grow from October to April of the following year. During this period, there is a high supply in the market, low sales prices, and low profits for the general public.

"After solving the mushroom stick problem, I started to solve the variety problem." Cai Weiming found that mushroom farmers in Wuyi County grow mushrooms at low sales prices, and farmers' profits are not considerable. "If we can supply mushrooms to the market during the season when mushrooms do not grow, the price will definitely increase."

So, Cai Weiming carried out new variety breeding and demonstration promotion, cultivating a high-quality shiitake mushroom variety "Zhexiang 6", and developing efficient cultivation techniques with supporting facilities. The produced shiitake mushrooms have excellent quality and high price, with prices 2 to 3 times higher than conventional ones.

In Wuyi, wearing leather shoes to pick mushrooms and driving a car to sell mushrooms has become a portrayal of the lives of mushroom farmers.

"Thanks to Teacher Cai's advanced technology, I also grow shiitake mushrooms and earn much more than before. I have contracted six mushroom houses here and can earn over 400000 yuan in revenue per year," said Fu Jie.

In April 2022, Fu Jie, who had been growing shiitake mushrooms for decades, went from a mushroom farmer to a technician at Wuyi Innovation Edible Mushroom Co., Ltd. When asked about the reason, 48 year old Fu Jie's face showed a hint of shyness: "With better family conditions, the child has also become successful. I hope to teach good skills to more people like Teacher Cai helped me, so that everyone can become rich together."

For the past 20 years, Zhejiang Science and Technology Commissioner has focused on local characteristic and advantageous industries, supported by technology and supported by projects, and driven regional economy to achieve leapfrog development by "showing farmers and leading them to work".

As of now, provincial-level science and technology envoys have led the implementation of more than 4700 science and technology projects, developed 5037 new products, introduced and trained 18169 talents, created 7191 science and technology demonstration bases, transformed 11979 scientific and technological achievements, and achieved an average increase of 0.787 million yuan per mu in income and 4.51 billion yuan in enterprise efficiency.

"We should fully authorize employers according to needs and actual situations, and give full play to the active role of employers in talent cultivation, introduction, and utilization."

The countryside is vast, and technology envoys are connected to the "sky" of advanced technology and assigned to the "ground" of the production line. But from wanting to do something, being able to do something, to achieving something, this process can never rely solely on technology envoys to "fight alone". The fundamental vitality of the technology special envoy system lies in ensuring that excellent technology talents can enter, stay, and perform well.

"We need to follow up on talent policies, optimize talent services, incorporate the work of science and technology special envoys into flexible talent management, establish an effective assessment and incentive system and two-way communication mechanism, and fully guarantee the work of science and technology special envoys." Xia Sheng, Secretary of the Kaihua County Party Committee, is a key talent for solving the problem of industrial innovation in the county.

Wuyi County arranges a special fund of 2.5 million yuan per year for the work of science and technology special envoys, of which 2 million yuan is used for the work of legal person science and technology special envoys, and 500000 yuan is used for personal science and technology special envoy projects;

Jinyun County has established 19 specialized work service teams at the county and township levels to ensure the daily work of science and technology envoys. The vehicles used by science and technology envoys to the countryside after arriving in the county will be included in the management of official vehicles;

Wencheng County has formulated and issued the Implementation Plan for the "1+8" Responsibility Binding and Linking Work of County Leaders. Each science and technology special envoy is linked and contacted by the county leaders. The county leaders provide assistance to the science and technology special envoys in project implementation and event organization, coordinate and solve practical difficulties

At present, Zhejiang Province has invested a total of 598 million yuan in special funds to comprehensively ensure the services of science and technology special envoys.

At the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology, the list of science and technology special envoys stationed in townships in Zhejiang Province in the early years is still carefully preserved. Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has added 4 new students, totaling 4 people; Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences originally dispatched 66 people, added 14 people, for a total of 80 people; Longyou County originally had one new member, with three new members added... If you open any book, you can see the written records left by the growing team of Zhejiang Province's science and technology special envoys.

On June 24th, the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Commissioner Representative Symposium emphasized the need to provide good logistics support services, so that science and technology commissioners can take root at the grassroots level and serve the grassroots with peace of mind. Photo by Hu Yuanyong

The technology envoy system in Zhejiang does not involve "matchmaking", but rather voluntary "pairing". "We adopt a market-oriented allocation of technology special envoy resources, with the government providing a platform for local townships to 'place orders' and demand them. Willing and capable scientific and technological personnel from dispatched units can register independently. According to the relevant person in charge of the Rural Science and Technology Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology, the enthusiasm of technology special envoys has been fully mobilized, and the number of volunteers becoming technology special envoys exceeds 1.5 times the demand.".

At present, Zhejiang Province has issued the "Provincial Local Standards for the Service and Management of Science and Technology Commissioners" to further standardize and guide the service and management of science and technology Commissioners, and to export the "Zhejiang Standards" for the work of science and technology Commissioners nationwide.

For the past 20 years, Zhejiang has always kept in mind its instructions, continuously improved the system of science and technology envoys, continuously iterated precise selection, service, reform, and guarantee mechanisms, and promoted science and technology envoys to write papers in the field and deliver technology to farmers. The system of science and technology envoys has become an effective path for the masses to rely on technology to increase income and become prosperous. It is an effective measure for science and technology work to support local high-quality development, and also an effective model for science and technology talents to improve their literacy and abilities by rooting in the grassroots and serving the people.

Write the paper on the earth and leave the results in the homes of the people.