A farmer plows the land to prepare for spring planting in Shaoyang, Hunan province. (ZENG YONG/FOR CHINA DAILY)

CHANGSHA－At 7:30 pm, Yang Yuanzhu, who is in his late 50s, sat in front of a phone next to a lamp and started livestreaming to his followers in his thick local accent.

Yang is an agricultural expert and vice-president of Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture. He is also a popular social media broadcaster who attracts over 100,000 people to his livestreams.

As spring planting is in full swing, agricultural companies are sharing their experiences and expertise with farmers to help them use technologies to improve yield and productivity.

Yang is an expert in planting, and each year he goes into the fields to teach farmers new skills. However, this year, due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, he has moved the lessons online.

Zhou Dongdong, a manager with Chinese machinery maker Zoomlion, goes into the fields to demonstrate to farmers how the company's seed thrower works. One training session that was planned to run for 40 minutes lasted over two hours.

A farmer uses a tractor to prepare his land for planting in Miluo, Hunan province, on March 4, 2020. (ZHOU MIN / XINHUA)

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"Learning to use, repair and maintain the machines have become new skill requirements for professional farmers today," Zhou said. "As companies, we need to conduct good training and win more customers."

Zhou's company plans to sell 1,500 seed throwers this year. At one training session, he sold 30 of the machines. The company asks sales people to conduct training for farmers each year. Each dealer trains over 200 farmers.

"We also invite teachers from education institutions to the training, and the content is not just limited to our own products," Zhou said. The training has also helped farmers get jobs with agricultural companies.

Jian Lirong, who runs an agricultural machinery company in Yiyang, Hunan province, said they hired some of the farmers who performed well in training.

"We now have over 20 trainers in the company, and over half of them are former farmers who participated in our training," Jian said.

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"They help promote standardized farming ideas and techniques in local villages."

Jiang Taijun, an officer with the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said when the training focused on hands-on use of the machinery and the production process, it helped the companies improve their products.

"It also serves as a good supplement to government training," Jiang added.