Xi encourages sci-tech expert work in countryside

President Xi Jinping has called upon science and technology experts working in rural areas to stay true to their original aspirations and make new and greater contributions to poverty alleviation and rural vitalization.

The instruction made by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, was read out at a meeting in Beijing on Friday marking the 20th anniversary of the policy of sending sci-tech experts to rural areas.

Two decades since the implementation of the practice, a growing number of experts have been sent to the countryside to use sci-tech to boost agricultural production, improve rural areas and raise the livelihoods of farmers, Xi said.

He hailed the experts' important role in publicizing Party policies, promoting agricultural science and technology, spearheading innovation and entrepreneurship and guiding rural residents out of poverty.

They have helped farmers obtain a stronger sense of gain and happiness, Xi said.

Innovation is a key pillar to the improvement of rural areas across the board, and it is important to adhere to the system as an important step for nurturing innovative talent to serve the rural vitalization strategy, he said.

In 1999, authorities in Nanping, Fujian province, dispatched the first group of sci-tech experts to rural areas to help with agricultural production.

The practice inspired a pilot program launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2002. It was promoted nationwide in 2008 after a campaign was launched by eight central government departments.