Xuyi county in Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu province has been leveraging its vocational education resources to support the growth of its lobster industry, which is a source of livelihood for 25 percent of the county's 800,000 population.

The Jiangsu Xuyi Secondary Technical School and the county's lobster industry association had in 2016 established a lobster entrepreneurship school to train farmers. A 5,000-square-meter training center that includes classrooms for lobster exhibition and sales, cooking, as well as e-commerce livestreaming was built. Teachers at the technical school compiled two textbooks about lobster farming and cooking, and Chen Yongchun, an internet celebrity in prawn and crab cultivation, has been invited to conduct classes.

Suzhou Ecstorm Network Technology Co, a partner of the Xuyi Secondary Technical School, has since 2019 been providing e-commerce-related trainings to students and farmers to help promote local lobsters in more cities.

Jia Xingchang, a local lobster farmer who has participated in three training sessions organized by the lobster entrepreneurship school, said that what he has learned at the school has improved the yield and quality of his lobsters, which has in turn doubled his income.

In October, the Xuyi Lobster Industry School was set up by the Xuyi Secondary Technical School and Huaiyin Normal University. The Huai'an and Xuyi bureaus of agriculture and rural affairs will also provide financial, technological and other kinds of support to the school. The new school is an upgraded version of the lobster entrepreneurship school, said Zhang Xia, the principal of the Xuyi Secondary Technical School.

Zhang Tong, the deputy dean of the School of Life Science of Huaiyin Normal University, said that the university will send 30 sophomores who major in biotechnology, bioengineering or food quality and safety to the lobster industry school every year starting from 2022.

The students will take eight to 10 classes related to aquaculture, aquatic product processing, and water environment monitoring and restoration.

Zhao Zhenglan, deputy Party secretary of Huai'an, expressed hope that the cooperation between governments, schools, and companies can boost rural vitalization and increase farmers' incomes.