Funing County: Farmers Evaluate Professional Titles, Star Anise Industry Thrives

Entering Dongbo Township, Funing County, Yunnan Province, the lush star anise forest on the hillside is thriving. Li Jinhui from Weiji Village is busy providing technical guidance services such as pruning, weeding, and spraying for growers. With practical skills in star anise management, grafting, and seedling cultivation, this year1in March, Li Jinhui was recognized as a senior technician in star anise planting and management and was hired as a star anise technical expert by Yunnan Zhongmu Agricultural and Forestry Development Co., Ltd.

The picture shows Li Jinhui, a senior technician, pruning a star anise tree.

Scientifically evaluating practical talents.

Known as“the hometown of star anise in China”Funing County has a long history of star anise cultivation. To promote the high-quality development of the star anise industry, since last year, Funing County has actively guided a large number of star anise planting technicians to participate in title evaluations, mobilizing rural practical technical talents to support the development of the star anise industry and comprehensively promote farmers' income increase.

To ensure the title evaluation work is done well, Funing County has introduced measures to clarify the conditions, incentive policies, and obligations for the evaluation of star anise technical talents.“In the county, large-scale growers, family farms, farmers' cooperatives, enterprises, and social service organizations directly engaged in the star anise industry, as well as returning migrant workers, veterans, college graduates, and other producers engaged in the star anise industry, all of whom possess practical skills in star anise seedling cultivation, planting, and management,‘local talents’can apply to participate in the title evaluation.”Dai Xingrui, deputy director of the Funing County Forestry and Grassland Bureau and vice chairman of the star anise practical technical talent title evaluation committee, said that the evaluation mainly relies on the level of star anise planting technology, the ability to solve practical problems, and the capacity to help the community increase income.

After the evaluation procedures of personal application, recommendation by grassroots party organizations, technical training and testing, assessment and review, departmental joint review, public announcement, and recognition, applicants will be awarded titles at three levels: junior technician, intermediate technician, and senior technician.

At the same time, Funing County has established a“targeted evaluation and targeted use”system, conducting star anise technical talent evaluations once a year. Those who have held junior or intermediate titles for more than two years and have met the evaluation conditions by serving and helping farmers, as well as achieving certain planting and seedling scales, can directly apply for promotion to a higher title, continuously promoting the emergence of“local experts”in star anise planting.

It is reported that2023since last year, Funing County has evaluated the first batch of star anise practical talent technical titles42people.

Helping improve the quality and efficiency of the industry.

To encourage those who have been awarded titles to actively play their roles, the county provides one-time bonuses of3000yuan,2000yuan,1000yuan for talents who obtain senior, intermediate, and junior titles, respectively. At the same time, individual technical files are established for each person, all included in the star anise practical technical talent database and teacher database, with priority recommendations for participating in technical training and as leading figures in popular science demonstrations, as well as priority enjoyment of national policies on credit, taxation, and other aspects.

In addition, Funing County has also established a mechanism for mutual communication between enterprises and star anise practical technical talent resources. Those who have been awarded titles can be invited to the company's planting bases and service sites to provide answers, technical guidance services, and lectures. After being awarded the title, Li Jinhui has been invited to conduct technical training in various places such as Gula Township and Naneng Township, guiding over20villages2000and multiple households in the county in star anise management, grafting, and other work.

“At that time, after seeing the transformation of Li Jinhui's star anise forest, it began to flower and bear fruit, and the yield was both abundant and of good quality, so we all invited him to guide us. Under his technical guidance, the anthracnose disease of the star anise trees in the village has been well controlled, and we are also carrying out low-efficiency forest transformation. Last year, the per unit yield of the star anise king tree in the village increased to220more than kilograms.”Weiyu Village resident Xiong Yuefeng said happily.

As of now, the county has conducted technical training125sessions11586person-times, radiating and driving growers to independently improve the quality and efficiency of star anise cultivation over10ten thousand acres, with the average yield per acre increasing to1000kilograms.

“In the next step, we will continue to learn advanced technologies and scientific development trends in the star anise industry, organize practical technical experiments, demonstrations, and promotions, actively provide technical guidance, training, and consulting services for star anise cultivation to contribute to the development of the star anise industry in Funing County.”Wu Shanshan, a staff member of Yunnan Zhongmu Agricultural and Forestry Development Co., Ltd. and a junior technician in star anise seedling cultivation, said.