“Take off! Fly at a constant speed for a while, hover at 2 meters. Alright, hold steady!” Recently, at the School of Continuing Education of Lishui Vocational and Technical College, Zhong Jianghao, a participant in the Lishui Rice Mechanized Production Technology Training Program, held a remote control to steadily lift a drone into the air and guide it accurately to the designated location. Zhong told reporters that over five days, he and 49 other new-type farmers had comprehensively mastered key knowledge such as drone-related regulations, the principles of aerial pest control operations, operational standards, maintenance procedures and emergency response measures through a combination of theoretical study and practical training, successfully acquiring new professional skills.

For years Lishui has translated President Xi’s major statements on agriculture, rural areas and farmers into a single obsession: higher farm margins, livelier villages, fatter pay-cheques. By weaving quality-ag supply chains, banding villages into share-holding collectives and up-skilling labour, the prefecture keeps prising open new channels for rural income. January-September 2025: rural per-capita disposable income hit 26,491 yuan, up 6.2 %—still the fastest growth in Zhejiang.

Turning Local Resources into Wealth: High-Quality Agriculture Boosts Benefits

In recent days, inside the photovoltaic temperature-controlled greenhouses of Zhejiang Dingzhou Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in Qingyuan County, rows of mushroom beds stretched out neatly, with clusters of mushrooms thriving robustly. “This is high-quality agriculture infused with advanced technology. It enables year-round continuous production and significantly enhances economic benefits,” introduced Chen Jialin, the person in charge of the company. He added that the intelligent central control system of the digital production and processing equipment, which regulates temperature, refrigeration and ventilation, can precisely control the growing environment required for shimeji mushrooms. Additionally, it allows adjusting output according to market demand to stabilize prices.

Edible fungi cultivation is undoubtedly the most distinctive local agricultural industry in Lishui. This 800-year-old traditional agricultural heritage has not only embraced high technology and digitalization but also leveraged new business models to optimize the primary industry, strengthen the secondary industry and vitalize the tertiary industry. Various industrial chains have gradually brought prosperity to local farmers.

Similarly located in Qingyuan, the Fangge Edible Fungi Expo Park has developed into an integrated agricultural and tourism complex integrating medicinal fungi breeding, standardized cultivation, popular science education and employee wellness services. It has driven employment and income growth for over 600 people in surrounding towns and villages. The intelligent edible fungi cultivation center in Zhuyang She Ethnic Township of Longquan City has transformed edible fungi cultivation into an industrialized production line. This year, 6.1 million bags of black fungus are expected to generate an output value exceeding 25 million yuan. Statistics show that from January to October this year, 580 million bags of edible fungi in Lishui created a total industrial chain output value of 11.5 billion yuan, helping 74,000 mushroom farmers increase their income.

“Edible fungi that once grew wild in mountains and fields have now entered factories. Moreover, many high-quality agricultural products from Lishui have gained access to markets across the country and even embarked on overseas journeys,” a relevant person in charge of the Lishui Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs stated. By leveraging rural e-commerce, Lishui has established 131 “Lishui Mountain Live Streaming” Common Prosperity Workshops, which have facilitated the sale of local premium agricultural products to broader markets. These workshops have created jobs for more than 5,000 people and achieved online retail sales exceeding 1.6 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of its unique connections with overseas Chinese communities, Lishui has developed a set of standard systems to promote the global expansion of its high-quality agricultural products by integrating digital technology with traditional agricultural wisdom. Qingtian bayberries have been air-shipped to Spain, Jinyun water bamboo shoots have been served on dining tables in Singapore, and Suichang long rice dumplings have been sold to Italy via cross-border e-commerce. With their reliable quality, Lishui’s agricultural products have successfully entered the global market.

Since last year, Lishui has adhered to the strategy of boosting prosperity through local specialty industries, continuously enhancing the development momentum of high-quality agriculture. By the third quarter of this year, the city had developed 9 complete industrial chains for local specialty products, each with an annual output value exceeding 1 billion yuan. These include Longquan edible fungi, Songyang tea and Jinyun duck farming. Employing 513,400 people, these industrial chains have helped each employee increase their income by 26,000 yuan on average and driven a 4.4% growth in the total output value of the city’s agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries.

Pooling Efforts for Prosperity: Invigorating Rural Areas with New Dynamism

The key to strengthening villages and enriching farmers lies in human resources. Taking operation as the link, Lishui launched the Rural Revitalization and Common Prosperity Partner Program themed “I Have a Village in Lishui”. The program has promoted 315 villages, recruited 708 partners, and facilitated the implementation of 586 projects with a total investment exceeding 1 billion yuan. It has enabled 143 villages to attract social investment for the first time, thereby strengthening the villages and improving farmers’ livelihoods.

Xiaoshun Village in Shitang Town, Yunhe County, has introduced Zhenyuan Rural Development Co., Ltd. and established a tripartite benefit-linking mechanism involving operation teams, village collectives and farmers. It is expected to increase the village collective income by 150,000 yuan this year. Focusing on the brand of “Tea Fragrance Town”, Longxi Township in Qingyuan County has explored new operation models and promoted the construction of a cluster of Common Prosperity Workshops specializing in wild tea. This initiative has driven the development of the wild tea industry in 5 nearby towns and sub-districts, boosting the income of over 5,000 people with an average annual increase of nearly 20,000 yuan per person. By adopting market-oriented thinking to innovate rural development models and operational mechanisms, Lishui has explored a differentiated development path featuring “one village, one industry type”, continuously injecting vitality into the all-round rural revitalization.

In Pingnan Town of Longquan City, scattered rural guesthouses nestle among the green mountains. “Our rooms are in high demand now, with bookings scheduled a month in advance!” Li Xianyang, the owner of Shanshui Guesthouse, said with a bright smile. Under the guidance of the Village-Strengthening Company, his guesthouse has become so popular that tourists often book rooms weeks in advance, and many stay for more than half a month.

By jointly establishing a Village-Strengthening Company, Pingnan Town has adopted an operational model of overall integration and town-wide management, promoting the development of three pillar industries: alpine agriculture, off-road sports and summer resort tourism. Last year, the total collective income of the 9 administrative villages in the town reached 7.1858 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.76%.

The Common Prosperity Partner Program has attracted talents, while Village-Strengthening Companies have integrated resources, significantly enhancing the confidence, capabilities and effectiveness of village collective development.

Wenxi Town, Gui’ao Township, Xiaozhoushan Township and Wukeng Township in Qingtian County jointly invested in establishing the Big Banyan Tree Area Village-Strengthening Company. The company has launched several large-investment and high-return joint projects such as factory rooftop photovoltaic power generation and hydropower stations. Last year, it achieved a profit of 18.505 million yuan. Among the 27 administrative villages in the area, 20 had a total income exceeding 1 million yuan, and 25 had an operating income of over 500,000 yuan.

Nanming Mountain Sub-district in Lishui Economic and Technological Development Zone adopted an investment model of “Village-Strengthening Company leading investment plus village-level co-investment” and a profit distribution mechanism combining “share dividend and project dividend”. It integrated 27 administrative villages as joint shareholders. Last year, the Village-Strengthening Company achieved a profit of 6.3336 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.64%.

As early as 2017, based on the characteristics of mountainous areas, Lishui took the lead in the province in establishing Village-Strengthening Companies at the town level. These companies integrated land, forests, real estate and other resources and funds from various villages as equity shares. Through unified integration, packaging and operation, they transformed resources into assets, funds into shares, and villagers into shareholders. By the third quarter of this year, the total assets of all Village-Strengthening Companies in Lishui had exceeded 8.2 billion yuan, with a total income of 766 million yuan and a profit of 350 million yuan.

Tapping Wealth through Skills: Enhancing Income for Thousands of Farmers

“By cultivating 3 mu of moss, I can earn over 20,000 yuan! Daily work only involves loosening the soil and watering, which is effortless. I never imagined that elderly people like me could earn money right at our doorsteps.” Yesterday afternoon, 68-year-old farmer Chen Mengtong squatted on the ridge of a moss planting base in Chenping Village, Maoyang Township of Jingning County, smiling as he looked at the stretches of green moss. Relying on the local characteristic moss industry, a Common Prosperity Workshop named “Showcasing Moss Skills” launched a moss adoption and co-creation project. Local residents can earn about 8,000 yuan per mu by providing land and conducting simple daily maintenance after receiving relevant training.

Inconspicuous moss, ancient oil tea forests, fragrant indocalamus leaves... These once underutilized local products are being revitalized by various Common Prosperity Workshops and transformed into tangible income for local people. Since the beginning of this year, Lishui has built a cluster of mountain-based workshops featuring “one county, one featured product” across the city. The 1,065 completed Common Prosperity Workshops have provided employment opportunities near their homes for over 77,000 people in mountainous areas, including more than 14,000 low-income individuals. These workshops have helped increase the monthly income of each employee by over 2,850 yuan on average and boosted the collective income of villages by a total of more than 224 million yuan.

If Common Prosperity Workshops have effectively established platforms for the local employment of surplus rural labor, creating pathways for farmers to increase their income, then skill training has enabled farmers to blaze a trail to prosperity through professional expertise.

“In the past, we had to learn whatever was arranged in training programs. But now, with training vouchers, we can choose courses freely according to our own needs.” Recently, Wu Yuanfu, the person in charge of Qingyuan Zangyun Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., exchanged a training voucher for a course on improving wild tea processing skills for rural practical talents, systematically learning the techniques of processing wild tea into black tea.

This year, Lishui innovatively introduced the “Skill Enhancement, Income Growth and Farmer Prosperity Training Voucher System” for farmers. It plans to issue 12 million yuan in the form of training vouchers, allowing farmers to select training institutions, programs and schedules based on their actual needs. The city has carried out customized skill training programs combining training with employment services, helping over 16,000 urban and rural residents obtain professional certificates and secure jobs.

“The training for agricultural drones is covered by the ‘Skill Enhancement, Income Growth and Farmer Prosperity Training Vouchers’. With these vouchers, participants can master advanced practical skills in modern agriculture at no cost under the model of ‘government funding and independent choice’,” Liu Liang, the person in charge of the School of Continuing Education of Lishui Vocational and Technical College, told reporters. The certification rate for the two agricultural drone training courses held this year reached 100%.

Notably, catering to the needs of agricultural operators and farmers for employment security, Lishui has also launched an innovative “Comprehensive Insurance for New-type Agricultural Operators”, providing comprehensive risk protection for agricultural business entities and farmers. Among its offerings, the “Employer Liability Insurance for Agricultural Operators” provides employment security for rural elderly aged 61 to 75. It has helped over 10,000 unemployed elderly rural residents re-enter the workforce, increasing their average monthly income by more than 4,000 yuan.

From promoting the market expansion of high-quality agriculture, to advocating collaborative development for shared benefits, and then to stimulating dynamic and diversified income growth, Lishui, as a key area in the province’s efforts to build a demonstration zone for high-quality development and common prosperity, is adopting systematic thinking and diversified approaches to address the challenges of increasing farmers’ income. It continues to set a vivid example for realizing common prosperity in mountainous regions.