Poor Chinese province promotes new breed of ‘super farmer’
So-called senior professional farmers earn at least 20 times the average rural income
SHAANXI – More than 260 farmers across Shaanxi province have been certified as “senior professional farmers”, meaning that, among other things, that they earn several hundred thousand yuan per year, the Huashang Daily reports.
To win such a certification, introduced by the provincial government two years ago, a farmer must be aged between 16 and 55, have a college education or above, and earn at least 20 times the local average income, according to the scheme.
The average yearly rural income in Shaanxi , one of the economically weakest provinces on the mainland, was about 6,500 yuan (HK$8,240) last year.
The project aims to cultivate professionals who can run cooperatives and rural companies to revitalise the rural economy. Preferential policies covering land leases and loans could be offered to those who qualified, the report said.
Among a recently deemed group of 182 senior professionals, most were university graduates with an average age of 39.
They had either returned to the farms after graduation, quit their civil service jobs, or had farmed for decades and resumed their education as adults.