Training content meets demand, farmers reap rich rewards

In 2014, the overall market situation for the livestock industry was not optimistic. In order to further strengthen breeding confidence, raise enthusiasm for production, and promote the development of modern animal husbandry, from October to December last year, the Shandong Provincial Animal Husbandry Station held 21 sessions of new-type farmer science and technology training (key technology training for the livestock and poultry breeding industry). A total of more than 240 person-times participated in the organization and implementation of this training. The trainees covered large-scale farmers, farm technicians, breeding technology backbones, municipal and county-level breeding technology heads, technical instructors, and others, totaling 6,749 person-times, exceeding the training target of 6,000 person-times.

Because the training work was well organized, the services were in place, the teaching staff was strong, and the course content met farmers' needs, the trainees studied conscientiously and the response was very good. Through the training, the trainees improved their own professional quality and raised their professional skills and feeding management levels. In particular, their livestock breeding production and management skills were greatly improved. Quite a few farmers went from knowing very little about breeding technology to initially grasping the key technical points. Some trainees went from first coming into contact with the livestock industry to gaining a certain depth of understanding of the industry. More trainees felt that through study and training, their technical level and theoretical literacy had been greatly improved. Some trainees had originally worked for others, but after participating in the study and training changed their employment ideas and planned to return home to start businesses and invest in livestock breeding production. By carrying out new-type farmer science and technology training, the diversification of farmer employment was accelerated, the transfer of labor was sped up, and the adjustment of the rural industrial structure was promoted. Many farmers began to change the traditional agricultural production model of relying solely on farming for a living and turned to livestock and poultry breeding, which has higher returns.

For a long time, because livestock and poultry breeding work has the characteristics of being “dirty, poor, and tiring” and relatively low in returns, the industry has had poor appeal. This has created an awkward situation in which young people are unwilling to do it, older people cannot keep up in knowledge, technology, and ideas, capable people are unwilling to do it, and those with poor ability cannot do it well. The development of animal husbandry faces the severe challenge of a shortage of human resources. Therefore, how to solve the problem of “who will do the breeding” has become a major difficult issue troubling the sustainable development of the industry. To this end, the Shandong Animal Husbandry Station established a leading group headed by the station director and deputy-headed by the deputy station director in charge, and established a working group with the heads of each section as its main members, with its office located in the comprehensive section of the Animal Husbandry Station. At the same time, together with experts from Shandong Agricultural University, Qingdao Agricultural University, the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and other units, it established the “New-Type Farmer Science and Technology Training Expert Group,” and together with municipal and prefectural animal husbandry technology promotion institutions and industry associations and others established the “New-Type Farmer Science and Technology Training Liaison Group.”

During the training, publicity and mobilization work was actively carried out. In line with the principle of “facing reality, connecting with production, and serving the front line,” before formulating the overall implementation plan and before each training session was held, together with industry associations and animal husbandry departments in various places, it understood the actual needs of farmers in different regions, at different levels, and in different industries through methods such as distributing questionnaires to farmers, telephone exchanges, typical surveys, and consulting industry experts. Whatever farmers needed most was what was trained; whatever the industry needed most was what was provided.

⟦NL> In this training, the Shandong Provincial Animal Husbandry Station gave full play to the role of a provincial-level promotion institution as a bridge and link. Through the collection, sorting, and integration of team resources, it quickly established an “expert database” for the development of Shandong's animal husbandry industry, providing strong intellectual support and guarantee for the development of the province's animal husbandry industry and the carrying out of animal husbandry work.

In 2015, the Shandong Provincial Animal Husbandry Station will further strengthen plan formulation, reasonably plan regional layout, comprehensively consider factors such as teaching, on-site activities, and teaching staff, integrate various expert resources inside and outside the system, establish a “New-Type Farmer Science and Technology Training Expert Database,” and give full play to the station's “one main body with multiple participants” role in the dissemination of technology.