College grads aid Chinese farmers

BEIJING, July 5 (UPI) -- College graduates in China who once shunned the idea of working in agriculture now are helping villagers improve their fortunes, officials said.

"We college grads are sent to villages to help farmers get rich," said Fu Yongxian, 29, who arrived in the village of Zaozhuang four years ago, Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, reported Sunday.

Fu, who lives in Henan province in northern China, is one of an estimated 130,000 college graduates who now work as village officials in farming communities. Another 100,000 college graduates are to be added to the program during the next five years, Xinhua reported.

Fu uses knowledge acquired at the Shanghai Institute of Technology to help villagers raise better livestock, improve crops and expand their markets.

Other college graduates using similar skills are spread throughout China, with Beijing having two college-educated officials in each of its 3,955 villages, Xinhua reported.

The program is part of a federal effort to build a stronger and healthier society by 2020, He Bingsheng, the president of China Agricultural University, said.