Study on the Influencing Mechanism and Path of Rural Talent Revitalization under the Rural Revitalization Strategy —Based on the In-Depth Investigation of Zhejiang Villages ()
1. Introduction
The report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly put forward the rural revitalization strategy, rural revitalization is not only the most important political task and development strategy in China in the next 30 years, but also the realization of the ideal of rural living for hundreds of millions of people (The CPC Central Committee and the State Council, 2018). Zhejiang is the germination place of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important judgment of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” in the new era. In recent years, our province has carried out the “Eight-eight Strategy”, along the way of “lucid waters and lush mountains are gold and silver mountains”, we will promote ecological progress in rural areas and build beautiful villages. Farmers have significantly improved their sense of gain, happiness and security. But at the same time, we should also see that the current imbalance in the development of agriculture and rural areas in our province is very prominent. Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and provincial government have resolutely implemented the decisions and deployment of the CPC Central Committee, compiled “Zhejiang Provincial Rural Revitalization Strategic Plan (2018-2022)”, and vigorously promoted comprehensive rural revitalization.
The essence of rural revitalization strategy is to make human resources return and build a new countryside. The rapid development of cities is inseparable from the rural contribution of a large number of labor, to common prosperity must let the return of manpower to build a new era of rural. The core of rural areas is people, and the purpose of rural revitalization is also for people (Zhang & Wu, 2021). To implement the rural vitalization strategy, we should first implement the talent plan, let farmers understand the importance of building a better home in rural areas, so that they can live a better life, and effectively solve the problem of “hollowing out” in rural areas, truly achieve the purpose of revitalizing and developing the countryside. To carry out the rural vitalization strategy, we must break the talent bottleneck.
2. The Difficulties Faced by Rural Talent Revitalization in Zhejiang Province
2.1. Rural Brain Drain Is Serious
With the acceleration of urbanization, the development of urban and rural areas is not coordinated, and there are more jobs in cities, a large number of rural workers begin to flood into cities, and their dependence on rural land drops sharply. Urban education, medical care, transportation and so on are better than rural areas, so more and more migrant workers are unwilling to return to rural areas, resulting in a serious brain drain in rural areas. At the same time, many young people go out of the countryside through higher education, and then work and settle down in cities, and transfer their Hukou to cities, which also causes the loss of labor force. The massive outflow of rural talents has seriously damaged the rural population composition, led to a large number of land abandonment, seriously hindered the effective development of Rural Revitalization Strategy and the development of rural economy.
2.2. The Quality of Rural Talents Is Low
Rural Revitalization requires not only a large number of rural labor, but also rural talents with certain technology and ability (Li & Li, 2020). The proportion of rural scientific and technological talents, new farmers and other talents in rural areas is relatively low, and most of them only participate in short-term training and do not obtain corresponding professional job evaluation. With the outflow of a large number of labor force, the proportion of young cadres in rural areas has also decreased significantly, and villagers’ autonomy also lacks a certain stock of elites. Although they have some experience in rural governance, their learning ability, ability to accept new things and ability to resist risks are poor. Many high-quality talents who go out from the countryside are unwilling to return to the countryside, and foreign talents are also unwilling to develop in the countryside. There are fewer and fewer high-quality local talents in the countryside. As a result, the development of rural economy will be slower and slower. Finally, there will be a dilemma that no one can cultivate in rural areas, and the gap between urban and rural areas will only be widening.
3. Analysis of the Causes for the Difficulties of Rural Talents Revitalization in Zhejiang Province
3.1. The Economic Gap between Urban and Rural Areas Is Large, and the Rural Areas Cannot Retain Talents
With the accelerated urbanization process, there is a large gap between urban and rural development. According to the Zhejiang Statistical Yearbook for 2021, the per capita disposable income of rural residents is 31,930 yuan in 2020, up 6.88 percent from 2019. The per capita disposable income of urban residents is 62,699 yuan, up 4.17 percent from 2019. It can be found from the data that although the per capita disposable income of rural residents grows faster than that of urban residents, the per capita disposable income of rural residents is only half of that of urban residents. This also reflects that the gap between urban and rural economic development is still large. Urban economic development is fast, while rural development is slow. As a result, more young talents are willing to work in cities with greater development space and opportunities, rather than stay in backward rural areas (Wu & Zhang, 2020).
3.2. The Rural Environment Is Relatively Backward and Talents Are Reluctant to Stay
The environment is an important factor affecting the talents’ staying and leaving. To attract and retain talents, we must actively create a good environment for talents’ development. After the reform and opening up, with the acceleration of urbanization, the gap between urban and rural areas has widened, with urban development far outpacing rural development. First of all, the rural education environment is backward, some primary school education infrastructure is backward, teachers’ professional and cultural literacy is low, and the school management level is relatively backward, resulting in the rural primary school education and teaching level is low. Most parents think their future is sealed and they must give their children a better education so that they can leave the countryside to change their lives. Secondly, the rural infrastructure is backward and the living environment is poor. According to the survey, 19.8 percent people believe poor infrastructure is a factor affecting the brain drain. Finally, the training environment of rural talents is poor. At present, local governments have not formulated a unified and scientific way of talent training, so that the number of talents trained in rural areas is not large and the quality is not good.
4. Practical Path of Rural Talent Revitalization in Zhejiang Province
Rural talents are the backbone of rural revitalization. Zhejiang Province has taken many effective measures in rural talent revitalization and achieved remarkable results.
4.1. Strengthen the Cultivation of Rural Talents and Give Full Play to the Role of Local Talents
Since the implementation of the “Quality Improvement Project of Ten million Farmers” in 2011, Zhejiang province has integrated 30 million yuan of central finance, 90 million yuan of provincial finance and about 200 million yuan of local support each year, through the form of government purchase of services, it has carried out training of rural practical talents and high-quality farmers, and trained a total of one million rural practical talents. Of these, 100,000 are high-quality farmers and more than 50,000 are leaders in getting rich. In addition, the education system trains more than 200,000 migrant workers every year. Through training, a large number of high-quality farmers have been trained, they take root in the countryside and are committed to agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship.
In terms of the training system, Zhejiang province integrates the resources of agriculture-related colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, agricultural enterprises, farmers’ cooperatives, etc., makes scientific talent training plans, sets up the “use-oriented” concept of talent training and development, and gives full play to the value of various rural talents. Zhejiang province has two experiences worth praising in this respect: one is the Zhejiang practice of science and technology commissioners helping the development of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, and the other is the initiative of “rural revitalization Institute”.
4.2. Strengthen the Introduction of Rural Talents and Unblock the Channels of Talent Circulation
In order to crack the problem of developing rural talents in Zhejiang Province, the provincial government has continuously tapped local rural talent resources for cultivation and strengthened measures for the introduction of high-end agricultural talents. First, Zhejiang Province organized a special campaign for youth to help rural revitalization. “QingChuang farm” is one of the brand projects. The government provides customized services such as project management, technical guidance, brand cultivation, channel promotion and so on. The “Qingnong Loan” group bank-sponsored public welfare project provides a maximum of 1 million yuan of unsecured (pledged) secured loans. Second, hold a rural entrepreneurship and innovation competition for college graduates; implement relevant support policies for college students to engage in modern agriculture, and give college graduates under the age of 35 who are directly engaged in agricultural production a subsidy of 10,000 yuan per year for three consecutive years. Third, carry out the “3030” New Farmer Action, to cultivate agricultural leaders in their 30s who dare to innovate and start businesses. At present, 15 people have been identified and 190 million yuan of support funds have been implemented. Fourth, guide college students to go back to the countryside to start businesses. In 2019, a total of 4166 young college students were attracted to go back to the countryside to start businesses. By 2022, the province will cultivate 10,000 young “agricultural makers” and 10,000 “new farmers”, and cultivate 400 provincial-level “QingChuang farm”.
4.3. Increase Infrastructure Construction and Improve the Level of Living Environment
An important reason for the brain drain in rural areas and the reluctance of foreign talents to stay in rural areas is the poor living environment and lack of infrastructure in rural areas, whether in transportation or medical education, it did not provide a good environment (Li & Li, 2021). Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of infrastructure and improve the living standard in order to attract talents. In the process of implementing the Rural Revitalization Strategy, Zhejiang Province has done a lot of infrastructure construction.
In terms of transportation planning, the rural transportation network has been built according to the geographical conditions and actual needs of different rural areas, so as to facilitate the travel of villagers and the sales of agricultural products, to shorten the distance between the two places, to promote exchanges and economic exchanges between urban and rural areas. In terms of sanitation treatment, we have further promoted the treatment of rural domestic waste, the treatment of rural domestic sewage and the transformation of rural toilets, so as to create a clean and hygienic living environment. Water irrigation projects, rural electricity and communication networks, clean water supply systems and commercial services are also being improved. Public services in the countryside are upgraded, especially in the areas of rural health, medical standards, pensions and social security, as well as cultural and recreational activities, to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas, promote the optimization of urban and rural resources, let the talents who come to the countryside for development have no worries. By strengthening rural infrastructure and injecting real human, material and financial resources into rural development, the ecological environment of the countryside continues to improve. Through scientific planning of rural development, the living environment of rural talents is improved and the comfort level of their lives is enhanced.
Talent is the key to the revitalization of rural areas. In the face of the talent dilemma in rural areas, we must take multiple measures at the same time. We should not only identify and cultivate talents, but also attract, retain and use them well, so as to provide a more solid and reliable talent guarantee for rural revitalization.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Zhejiang provincial soft science research plan (2020C35007).