Research on Access Standards for Service Providers in Rural Specialty Industries: A Case Study of Tea-Planting Service Providers in Jiangxi Province

Abstract

The tea industry is a distinctive industry in the hilly and mountainous regions of southern China. As the integration of smallholder farmers into modern agriculture continues to advance, agricultural specialized services are playing an increasingly prominent role. Yet the quality of these services is constrained by weak capacity among service providers, inconsistent service standards, and the absence of entry thresholds. Taking the tea-planting service providers of Jiangxi Province as an example, this paper develops dedicated access standards that define eligible applicants, basic principles, service categories, and admission requirements. In light of the realities of tea production in hilly and mountainous areas, it puts forward recommendations concerning tiered and category-based admission, dynamic evaluation, and policy coordination, with the aim of informing the improvement of access systems for service providers in the tea industry and, by extension, in other rural specialty industries.