Zhu Youyong, a plant pathologist and esteemed academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has been for years helping farmers in the impoverished regions of southwest China's Yunnan Province to grow and sell potatoes.

In April of 2020, Chinese netizens who've long grown used to livestreaming e-commerce saw something refreshing -- someone who holds the prestigious title of academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering going live to sell potatoes.

It was a spring plagued by the COVID-19 epidemic, and Zhu was standing on the rural lands of Yunnan's Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, where he spent the last five years helping farmers, to explore more sales channels for the just harvested potatoes as their usual markets were temporarily closed.

Zhu livestreamed viewers on how big Lancang's potatoes are by cooking a normal-size dish of stir-fry with just one potato.

"How about the potatoes? I'll hold it to my face so you can see the size of it," he said in front of camera.

The road for Zhu to lead Lancang's farmers to grow nice, big potatoes was a long one. Located near the southwestern border of China, the people here have experienced generations of poverty.

Zhu first arrived in Lancang in 2015, hoping to find ways for farmers to grow more lucrative agricultural products to improve their income. After careful field survey, he had found a way to grow potatoes in the harsh winter months, but it still took quite some convincing for the conservative locals to switch from their usual winter planting to potatoes.

But time has proven Zhu's method was right. When words got out that farmers who agreed to test potato farming on their lands all had good harvests, more and more people got on board.

Having had great success growing winter potatoes in Lancang, Zhu understood the next step is to let the market know about their product. He even brought Lancang's potatoes to the national stage - promoting them in front of a huge crowd of reporters as he was attending the annual session of National People's Congress in 2018.

Each mu (roughly 0.067 hectare) has an average yield of 3.1 tons, he said, adding that "the selling price is 3,000 yuan a ton. Farmers earn 9,000 yuan per mu."

Today many know the 66-year-old as the 'farmer academician'. China has now removed all poor counties from the poverty list, and eradicated absolute poverty and regional poverty. But Zhu remains committed to Lancang, often seen on the farmlands teaching farmers to grow agricultural products. Everywhere he goes, people are always thrilled to see the farmer academician.

"When they finally arrived here, I rushed over there. I also had my motorcycle cleaned before I hurried to meet him," said a farmer in Lancang.

"He taught us step by step personally," another farmer recalled.

"He would walk into the farmland without shoes," said another.

Zhu also understands the farmers would need more than his expertise to build a more prosperous life. Since 2019, he had invited e-commerce companies to open training sessions for locals, so they may have more ways to sell their agricultural product. Nowadays farmers are enjoying a steady good income from Lancang's large size potatoes.

"I shall hand this over to my wife for keeping," said one smiling farmer putting a wad of 100-yuan notes in the inside pocket of his jacket after completing a huge sale.

Zhu had once said helping people shaking off poverty is far more difficult than publishing a paper on a science journal. Now he talks of his work on Lancang's farmlands more proudly than any of his papers.

"Write your thesis on the ground, in the farmlands, that's what I consider true capability," said Zhu.