2023-05-24
The wind blows a thousand waves in the wheat field, and it's another year when the wheat is ripe.
In the endless wheat field of the Yangjie Village, Langgongmiao Town, Xinxiang County, Henan Province, the wheat are about to ripen and the ears are full of grains.
Regardless of the high temperature, the teachers and students of the tiny sci-tech service yard of Yangjie Village, experts from Henan Agricultural University are busy in the field, guiding farmers to do technical management and pest control to ensure a promising harvest.
"As of this year, the tiny sci-tech service yard has been serving farmers in Henan for 11 years", said Ye Youliang, founder of the tiny yard and professor of Henan Agricultural University.
"Started in 2012, the Henan tiny sci-tech yard initiative has established a diversified agricultural technology promotion system that combined universities, government agencies, agricultural enterprises, and leading planters. The initiative rallies teachers and students in the agricultural field to get rooted in rural areas and explore more effective ways to utilize technical achievements in an effort to promote agricultural upgrading and increase farmers’ income", sad Ye. They refer these technical service teams of teachers and students as tiny sci-tech yard.
"We provide convenient sci-tech consultative services for farmers to solve problems such as how to plant, raise and fertilize crops", introduced Dr. Zhao Yanan, guiding teacher of the tiny yard.
"Teachers, graduate and undergraduate students from the School of Resources and Environment of Henan Agricultural University are ready to respond to problems such as classification of soils, plant diseases and pest control. During the day, they conduct household and market research and play fair tests to find solutions. At night, they deliver thematic lectures to the farmers on confronting problems", added Zhao.
Li Ying, deputy mayor of Langgongmiao Town, Xinxiang County, introduced that teachers and students converted agricultural tricycles into technology service vehicles to offer long-term services at village fairs.
"The experts of the tiny yard will come to the field to demonstrate technical details to the farmers upon work orders received at the village fairs", added Li,
"They did good jobs in providing on-site explanations on wheat seedling identification and effective water and fertilizer management to ensure ear yield. They help achieve good harvests and increase the income of local farmers.
Gao Yifan, graduate student majoring in Resource Utilization and Plant Protection from Henan Agricultural University, has gained a lot by participating in the initiative. She and 5 other classmates stayed at Wangfuzhuang Village, Langgongmiao Town for over 200 days. They lived together with the farmers and provided instant sci-tech assistance to the farmers.
"I have improved my work ability through working at the tiny yard and serving local farmers", said Gao, "And thanks to the experiences, I felt the power of unity and cooperation."
At present, 58 tiny sci-tech service yards have been built in Henan Province, weaving a network between higher education institutions and farmers in need of technical assistance.
More teachers and students of Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics, Henan University of Economics and Law, and other universities were attracted to participate in the initiative to provide technical assistance, serve as voluntary teachers, deliver agricultural technology trainings, and livestream their achievements on social media platforms.
Ye Youliang said that as of 2022, the tiny yards in Henan Province have trained 700 plus undergraduate and graduate students, and delivered over 2,000 agricultural technology trainings.
The tiny yards have cultivated more than 1,000 technicians for new agricultural entities and grassroots units, trained millions of farmers and enterprise technicians, provided services for over 20 million acres of fields, and saved costs and increased income by over 800 million yuan.
"The tiny yards are exploring various forms to solve the 'last mile' problem in providing technical assistance to the farmers and guiding farmers to reduce investment and increase production and income", noted Fang Weiping, vice president and first-level inspector of the Henan Association for Science and Technology (HAST).
"In the future, we will expand the coverage of the tiny sci-tech service yards to fulfill the target of establishing at least 1 tiny yard in each county to foster a radiative effect", added Fang.
As a local branch of CAST, HAST is expected to provide more initiatives to promote agricultural technologies and cultivate agricultural technicians for rural areas.
Tag: Henan Association for Science and Technology, Talent Cultivation