Agricultural material dealers serve as the "bridge" connecting agricultural enterprises with farmers. Their professional capabilities directly impact the effectiveness of agricultural products and farmers' planting incomes. Recently, the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Luquan County, in collaboration with the County Supply and Marketing Cooperative, organized over 150 agricultural material dealers across the county for a 3-day special training session. The training aimed to enhance the dealers' professional standards in areas such as laws and regulations, product identification, and agricultural technical services, promoting the transformation of the agricultural materials industry from "mere sales" to "professional services".
This training adopted a diversified model of "theoretical explanation + case analysis + on-site practice", inviting 5 experts from the Regulations Department of the Kunming Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, the Law Enforcement Brigade of the County Market Supervision Administration, and the County Agricultural Technology Promotion Office to give lectures. In the laws and regulations module, experts detailed core provisions of the "Seed Law", "Regulations on Pesticide Administration", and "Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products". Combined with typical cases investigated in Luquan in recent years, such as "selling unregistered seeds" and "unlicensed pesticide business", they explained the legal consequences of illegal operations, helping dealers clearly understand "what is allowed and what is prohibited".
In the product identification practical session, experts brought samples of qualified and inferior fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. Using a four-step teaching method of "look, touch, smell, and test", they taught dealers how to distinguish genuine products from fake ones: for example, high-quality fertilizer has uniform granules and no odor, while inferior fertilizer has uneven granule sizes and a pungent smell; QR codes on the packaging of qualified seeds can be traced back to the manufacturers, whereas inferior seeds have no QR codes or show blank information upon scanning. The site also set up a "spot the difference" game, asking dealers to identify inferior products from 10 sets of samples. Dealers with an accuracy rate of over 90% were rewarded with agricultural technology books, greatly mobilizing their enthusiasm for participation.
The agricultural technical service module focused on the planting needs of local major crops. Experts explained fertilization techniques, pest and disease control methods for crops like corn, rice, and vegetables, as well as precautions for the storage and transportation of agricultural materials. "In the past, when farmers asked me 'what medicine to use for curled pepper leaves', I couldn't answer. Now I know it's aphid damage and should be treated with imidacloprid," said Wang Kaihua, an agricultural material dealer from Sayingpan Town who participated in the training. He noted that this training transformed him from a "seller of agricultural materials" into someone who "understands the technology".
After the training, the County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau also established an online communication group for the dealers, inviting experts to answer questions regularly in the group and share the latest agricultural material policies and agricultural technology knowledge. At the same time, each dealer was issued an "Agricultural Material Service Manual", which includes solutions to common problems and contact information for agricultural technical services, making it convenient for dealers to consult at any time. Moving forward, Luquan County plans to conduct training for agricultural material dealers every six months to continuously improve industry service levels, making these dealers "field service personnel" contributing to rural revitalization.
