AI-Powered E-Commerce Trains Breed New Farmers in Ningxia’s Winter

Winter leisure in rural areas of China is no longer a time for idleness, but an opportunity to enhance skills and expand employment channels. In Yanchi County, Wuzhong City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, AI-enabled e-commerce training has become a new highlight of rural revitalization efforts, helping local farmers turn digital skills into income growth, according to CNR.cn.

“Once tied to the kitchen by my baby and daily chores, I dared to step into the training class a month ago,” Zhang Jingrong, a post-90s trainee, shared at the graduation ceremony of the AI-enabled E-Commerce for Rural Revitalization Training in Yanchi County. “I learned to make wolfberries and Tan sheep meat more attractive through lenses, tell stories about Haba Lake and intangible cultural heritage, and even master AI tools for copywriting, design and video editing—it’s like having ‘digital magic’.”

The training, focusing on AI-empowered e-commerce, aims to address a key challenge facing Yanchi: abundant high-quality agricultural products but a lack of brand influence and online traffic. “We hope this training will help farmers and enterprises open up new avenues for increasing income,” Dong Haibo, person in charge of the training class, told reporters.

Practical skills are the core of the training. Based on the differentiated needs of trainees, Yanchi County has innovatively set up 12 training sessions, including basic, advanced and master classes, covering nearly 300 people over four months, People’s Network reported. Adopting practical teaching methods such as on-site drills, scene shooting and live streaming competitions, the training has built a full-chain cultivation system from skill entry to industrial income increase. Some trainees registered accounts, planned live streams and connected sales channels shortly after the training started, with some gaining over 10,000 followers in a month and others securing orders or even cooperating with enterprises outside the region.

Tang Yongfeng, a native of Yanchi, once tried live streaming to promote local sesame oil, which was little-known to the outside world. He struggled to speak fluently in front of the camera and achieved no progress after half a year. Guided by training teachers, he adjusted his strategy: explaining the traditional craftsmanship of sesame oil in live streams and using AI tools to make short videos of field scenes, vividly showing local customs and traditions.

“Now, sales have exceeded 800,000 yuan,” Tang said with a broad smile while checking live stream data on his phone. “Not only sesame oil has become famous, but also Yanchi Tan sheep, buckwheat and daylily have ‘traveled far away’.”

A group of “new farmers” proficient in new tools and platforms are emerging. In early December 2025, Yanchi County organized 88 trainees to take the junior certification exam for AI Instruction Engineers organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, achieving satisfactory results. To date, various e-commerce training programs in Yanchi have covered more than 5,000 person-times, and over 130 local live streamers have revitalized rural resources through digital technology, in line with China’s efforts to promote AI application in rural development as part of the national AI Plus initiative.