A female villager in Zhoushan competes at a provincial livestreaming host competition. [Photo provided by Zhoushan women's federation/zhoushan.cn]

Some female villagers in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province have become successful livestreaming hosts, local media reported recently.

According to a staff member from the Zhoushan women's federation, over 70 percent of local e-commerce projects related to special agricultural products are headed by female villagers.

To encourage flexible employment for female villagers, Zhoushan women's federation and commerce bureau launched an e-commerce training program three years ago that has trained more than 20,000 female villagers to date.

The program also offers courses on the online marketing of agricultural products. E-commerce experts have been invited to visit local farms to formulate different sales strategies according to the produce's characteristics and needs of the owners.

Yu Ye, one of the first trainees in the program, opened an online store to sell pigeon eggs after completing the first course in 2019. She is solely responsible for the store's design, product introduction and after-sale services.

Yu said that she still attends the training classes despite her hectic work schedule as she is keen to improve her knowledge of e-commerce.

The Zhoushan women's federation has in recent years also organized various competitions to encourage female villagers to showcase their entrepreneurship skills.