BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- April marks the prime season for plucking fresh tea leaves in Puzhao Village of Luzhou, a renowned tea-producing city in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Rural women can be seen honing their skills in this labor-intensive craft at a dedicated training course, as the aroma of spring tea lingers in the air.

Through organized skill training, the village has empowered over 100 left-behind women to master the art of tea-leaf picking and tea processing.

"With new techniques, I can work faster now, and I know how to pick tea leaves of better quality, which helps me earn more than before," said Wang Tianjiang, a local villager.

Puzhao boasts over 200 hectares of tea plantations, yielding an annual output of 45 million yuan (around 6.24 million U.S. dollars). Tea-leaf plucking and tea processing serve as a vital source of livelihood for its villagers.

The training program, which was initiated in March, is part of local efforts to boost employment and incomes. Instructors of the training program also impart knowledge of management and e-commerce to the rural women, aiming to help the former homemakers become adept and self-reliant players in the tea industry.

China issued a multi-department action plan last week to provide targeted support for left-behind women in rural areas. Left-behind women refer to those who remain at home in rural areas while their husbands work away for over six months.

Sun Xiaoyan, a grassroots official in Puzhao Village, said that all left-behind women in Dagu Town, where Puzhao is located, have registered to receive targeted assistance based on their specific needs. Such training programs have been expanded to cover more than 50 villages in Luzhou, the women's federation of the city told Xinhua.

In addition to providing vocational training for rural left-behind women, the action plan also proposes creating more local job opportunities by developing farming, breeding and handicrafts tailored to the region's unique conditions.

With favorable business support, tea processing plants have rapidly mushroomed near Puzhao. Many female villagers are hired to pick tea leaves or join collective businesses, allowing them to earn income while caring for their left-behind families.

"I worked for 23 days this month, earning some 180 yuan a day. That's pretty good," said Chen Xiaohong, a female villager who works at a tea plant.

Sun said that thanks to the tea industry, nearly 5,000 temporary jobs are created each tea-picking season, providing locals with a daily income ranging from 120 to 300 yuan.

Previously, many left-behind women in rural areas depended on their migrant-worker husbands to support their families. Now, with backing from local government and women's federation organizations, more of them are able to unlock their potential and venture into both traditional industries and emerging sectors like tourism and live-streaming commerce.

Zhan Manqin, originally a stay-at-home mother from Taihu County in east China's Anhui Province, has transformed into a seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur, riding the wave of live-streaming and benefiting from supportive policies.

In 2018, a chance opportunity introduced Zhan to the live-streaming sector. She began by showcasing the wild kiwifruits from her hometown, successfully selling out 200 kilograms a day.

Since then, Zhan embarked on her entrepreneurial journey, learning to shoot videos with her mobile phone and mastering marketing skills on her own. As her business grew, a variety of agricultural products, ranging from farmyard eggs and bamboo shoots to handcrafted cured meats, began to feature in her live-streaming sessions.

In 2022, she achieved a sales volume of over 200,000 yuan, which also directly boosted the income of 30 households in her village.

Zhan credits her success to the targeted assistance she received, with the Taihu human resources and social security bureau providing her with startup loans and the industrial association helping her scale her business. Today, Zhan is no longer alone, as she now leads an entrepreneurial team of over 10 members.

At the same time, Zhan is actively contributing to the initiative to empower more rural women like herself, helping to boost sales of agricultural products for villagers and guiding more left-behind women into the live-streaming sector.

Assisting rural left-behind women in finding employment and starting businesses not only helps them realize their personal values but also allows them to contribute significantly to rural revitalization, according to experts.

The action plan made public last week also requires efforts to enrich the lives of left-behind women in rural areas, and encourage them to participate in grassroots deliberation and consultation on public affairs. ■