Chinese PhDs and MBAs give up city life for farming, driven by desire to improve agriculture and livelihoods
- Millions of educated Chinese have left cities to become farmers, inspired to change agriculture or disenchanted with the pressures of urban life
- They practise organic farming and water conservation, hoping to set an example for fellow farmers, and revive traditional techniques
When thousands of diseased and bloated pig carcasses floated down a tributary of the Huangpu River in Shanghai in early 2013, after being dumped upstream by farmers, the stench turned Zheng Lixing’s stomach.
“If you were there, you wouldn’t have been able to eat for a few days,” says Zheng, a native of Shaanxi province in northwest China with a doctorate in polymer science from Tianjin University of Science and Technology.
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The experience got him concerned about the state of the agricultural sector in China, which, for centuries before its industrialisation, was an agrarian society.
Three years later, with two million yuan from their own pockets and investors, Zheng and four other university graduates from Shaanxi returned home and acquired 13 hectares (32 acres) of farmland in Liquan county. They wanted to show local farmers the benefits of switching to organic methods.
The quality of the soil is poor, he says, and will take another few years to recover fully. Soil contamination, caused by pesticide and fertiliser use, but also industry and waste disposal, is a big threat to China’s food security.
