Liao Wenjiao felt as if it was the end of the world when she saw her 30 mu (two hectares) of red peppers shriveled and withered on the vine as the temperature dropped to 4 degrees in early January. In her village, temperatures below 10 degrees had been rare over the past 30 years-- but not this year.
"My life was suddenly put in an icehouse as the entire family income depends on the red peppers," said the native of Hepu County of Beihai City in China's subtropical Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. "Luckily, a man came to me and gave me emergency guidance and comfort. Otherwise, I would have suffered more loss and could hardly survive the coldest winter ever."
The man who brought a ray of hope to Liao was Chen Xingrui, a technical advisor from the local agriculture development center. Together with Liao, the two worked in the field for days to examine the situation. He told her to cover the pepper roots when the temperature rose gradually, as well as how to prepare early for next winter's frost.
"I told her that she was not alone and everything would be all right amid the climate disaster," said the forty-something Chen. "It was high time for technical staff like myself to come out of the office and minimize the losses with our knowledge and experience."
Chen is also part of the specialized Technical Task Force (TTF)working with six neighboring villages around Beihai, one of the pilot sites of a four-year, 7.4 million U.S. dollar joint project between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).
When Beihai was severely affected by the recent snowstorms that devastated southern China, the TTF team acted immediately in organizing restoration work and self-aid training, as well as providing online consultation to local farmers according to their situation.
Through the local Information and Communication Technology (ICT) center equipped with computers supporting an online expert database, the TTF team helped local farmers obtain disaster prevention and relief knowledge online in addition to up-to-date market information.
"I didn't dare to touch the keyboard the first time I worked on the computer. I thought I might break it," Liao said, smiling at the memory. "But I was thrilled to see my red pepper information uploaded. It even attracted buyers from Taiwan."
Liao's smile broadened widely when she said the price of her red peppers had increased from 2 yuan (27 U.S. cents) per kilogram to 12 yuan per kg in the market. With the price increase, she took in an extra 10,000 yuan more per mu with Liao's help.
"I guess the secret is that he taught me to grow organic and healthy red peppers and to tap the market potential."
Nationwide, the TTF initiative has covered 1,039 counties in 31provinces and regions with a total of 45,000 TTF practitioners introducing farmers to innovative, environment-friendly technologies and organizational methods to increase their income and promote sustainable rural development.
The project has won the support of the private sector. Beihai'sICT center is a result of a public-private partnership supported by Stora Enso, a multinational paper producer. The Finnish-based company donated one million U.S. dollars to the TTF project in Guangxi.
In addition, multinational IT companies, such as Intel and Microsoft, also introduced their existing best practices in bringing ICT services to rural China through providing physical infrastructure, financial input, technical solutions and improved human resources.
"There is an unprecedented scope for IT companies and other multinational and national companies to match real investment opportunities, and to commit their corporate social responsibility with the real needs of the poor for information," said Subinay Nandy, the UNDP China country director.
Liu Yanhua, China's Science and Technology vice minister, believed the TTF project had played an important role for the sustainable development in rural China.
"Training, consultation, partnership building and market information are the main services provided by the ICT support. This serves as a critical rural infrastructure for the development of the new socialist countryside."
Source: Xinhua
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