Improving grassroots logistics infrastructure, innovating agricultural product sales models, and conducting e-commerce skills training—In recent years, rural e-commerce in China has made remarkable achievements in promoting the connection between agricultural production and sales, driving agricultural transformation and upgrading, and expanding employment and income channels for farmers. Data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, the national rural online retail sales reached 1.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.2%.
Actively developing rural e-commerce and express delivery services can expand the sales channels for agricultural products, increase farmers’ incomes while promoting industrial development. Since the beginning of this year, rural e-commerce in China has shown a growth trend, achieving significant results in promoting the connection between agricultural production and sales, ensuring high quality and good prices, driving agricultural transformation and upgrading, improving quality and efficiency, and expanding employment and income channels for farmers. This has provided strong new momentum for promoting agricultural and rural modernization. Data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, the national rural online retail sales reached 1.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.2%.
Bridging Gaps and Building Networks
E-commerce enters rural areas, bringing agricultural products nationwide
“Beep—” A passenger bus stopped in front of the e-commerce operation service center in Fengyi Township, Yilong County, Sichuan Province. The driver, Wu Zhong, walked into the sorting center and put the packages he was responsible for delivering into bags one by one. Soon, the packages for the three villages of Qingyan, Shimen, and Jingping were delivered to the hands of the villagers. “Since the service center was put into use, an average of 30 to 40 packages are delivered every day,” Wu Zhong said.
The e-commerce operation service center in Fengyi Township covers an area of about 2,000 square meters and has convenient transportation. “It integrates seven express delivery points in the township, and rural passenger cars deliver to villages and households,” said Wang Chaomin, the center’s director. After integration, the costs for express delivery companies were reduced, and the shipping fees decreased by about 40%.
In addition to being the director of the service center, Wang Chaomin also has a family farm. Currently, the farm has driven 110 nearby households to participate, helping to sell agricultural products worth tens of thousands of yuan since the beginning of this year, increasing each household’s income by three to four thousand yuan. “Without leaving home, ‘local products’ can be sent to cities. The development of e-commerce has brought dividends to everyone,” Wang Chaomin said.
This is a microcosm of China accelerating the completion of rural logistics facilities and service shortcomings. Currently, China has built 990 county-level public delivery and distribution centers and 278,000 village-level express delivery service points, with 95% of the established villages nationwide covered by express delivery services. Targeting the difficulties and pain points of e-commerce for agricultural products, since 2020, the “Internet + Agricultural Products Out of Village and Into City” project has been organized and implemented. So far, it has supported the construction of 75,000 cold storage facilities for agricultural products, adding more than 18 million tons of storage capacity. It has supported the comprehensive promotion of cold storage and preservation in 350 counties for agricultural products, extending the cold chain logistics service network to rural areas.
In Yongren County, Yunnan Province, small parcels drive big development. With a total investment of 16.57 million yuan, Yongren County has actively built an integrated rural e-commerce circulation model of “county-level e-commerce center + township e-commerce service station + farmer.” “After the fruit matures, there is no longer any worry about sales difficulties, and good fruits fetch good prices,” said Yin Shibao, Party Secretary of Huiba Village in Yongxing Dai Township.
As the logistics foundation continues to solidify, rural e-commerce is booming. According to reports, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Ministry of Finance and other departments, jointly carried out comprehensive demonstrations of e-commerce in rural areas, supporting 1,489 counties in building and improving rural e-commerce public service systems. By the end of 2022, more than 2,800 county-level e-commerce public service centers and logistics distribution centers and 159,000 village-level e-commerce service stations had been built, with 17.503 million rural online merchants nationwide, an increase of 8.5% year-on-year.
New Retail, New Agriculture
Exploring new business formats, enhancing value chains
The fruits are ripe and fragrant in Douji Village, Geji Town, Dangshan County, Anhui Province, where Li Meng, a fruit merchant from Feng County, Jiangsu Province, is busy selecting high-quality crisp pears among the pear trees.
“Since May, I have been signing unified purchase contracts with the villagers for Dangshan fruits such as nectarines, yellow peaches, and crisp pears, and selling them through e-commerce platforms. They can reach consumers within two to three days after picking,” Li Meng said. According to reports, in 2022, the output of crisp pears in Dangshan County reached 910,000 tons, with an industrial chain output value of 11.035 billion yuan. Li Meng registered an online store on an e-commerce platform, and Dangshan’s crisp pears and nectarines became “internet celebrities,” selling 100,000 orders annually.
E-commerce platforms actively establish bases and contracts at the source of agricultural products and empower the agricultural product industry chain through direct sourcing from the place of origin, becoming a new driving force for promoting rural industrial development.
In Beizhai Village, Louguan Town, Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province, the kiwi vines are lush, and the branches are full of fruits. After sorting, packaging, and shipping, the kiwis planted by local farmer Liu Jinniu can reach consumers directly from the place of origin in the shortest time, taking only one day at the fastest.
“Fruit production also relies on new technologies,” said Liu Heng, head of Xi’an Hengyuanxiang Kiwi Fruit Co., Ltd. “In the past, we selected the size and performed quality inspections with the naked eye. Now, with the fruit sorting machine, we can automatically classify different fruit shapes and select fruits with insect holes, ensuring the quality of agricultural products.”
Rural e-commerce is not simply moving agricultural products online; the key is to upgrade the industrial chain. By promoting order-based agriculture and direct sourcing from bases, creating new retail models that integrate online and offline, forging new fresh agricultural product supply chains, improving logistics and distribution efficiency, and combining new agriculture with new retail, the competitiveness of high-quality agricultural products is highlighted.
According to reports, agricultural product sales models are continuously innovating and iterating, with live streaming becoming an important tool for promoting agricultural products. Many farmers sell their agricultural products through WeChat or live streaming, and a large number of “internet celebrity” agricultural products have emerged, significantly increasing the conversion rate of agricultural product purchases. In addition, the new model of “e-commerce + tourism + picking” is also driving farmers to increase their income and become rich. Many places are exploring new business formats integrating agriculture and tourism, such as farming experiences, leisure vacations, and study tours, based on their agricultural product industry characteristics and regional features, effectively enhancing the agricultural product value chain.
Cultivating new farmers, supporting new industries
“The five-day training specifically covered live streaming and short video shooting. I learned a lot of new knowledge,” said Lu Xiaoping, a villager from Yangqiao Subdistrict Office in Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, who signed up as soon as the e-commerce training class started recently. In the classroom, the training teacher combined theory with practice and taught the villagers how to sell goods through live streaming on their mobile phones. After the training, the trainees were organized to conduct unified vocational skill level identification.
Enhancing farmers’ digital literacy to promote better industrial development. In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has continuously promoted mobile application skills training for farmers, organizing farmer mobile application skills training week activities nationwide, combined with themes such as agricultural product network marketing, to help farmers improve their agricultural product e-commerce sales skills. As of the end of October this year, more than 200 million people have been trained.
Strengthening e-commerce talent cultivation. From 2018 to 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs conducted specialized training courses on agricultural and rural e-commerce for rural practical talent leaders for five consecutive years, training more than 2,500 e-commerce backbone talents, contributing to the development of agricultural and rural e-commerce. It has also implemented high-quality farmer cultivation plans targeting returning and rural residents, such as family farm operators, farmer cooperative leaders, and college graduates. In 2022, it conducted skills training in digital applications and e-commerce live streaming, involving 200,000 people.
With favorable policies, rural e-commerce has become a big stage for rural entrepreneurship. In Zhanhua District, Binzhou City, Shandong Province, a large number of new farmers are promoting the export of agricultural products, injecting vitality into the development of rural e-commerce. Chen Pengpeng, a new farmer in Chenjia Village, Botou Town, is also an e-commerce entrepreneur. Leveraging the “golden brand” of Zhanhua winter jujubes in his hometown, Chen Pengpeng registered an e-commerce company. “In 2022, our e-commerce sold more than 30 varieties of agricultural products, including winter jujubes, corn, peanuts, and sweet oranges, with 300,000 orders and a sales volume of 10 million yuan. This year, it is expected that the volume of goods will increase by 50% compared to last year, and the value of goods will also increase by 50%,” Chen Pengpeng said.
In recent years, under the active promotion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other relevant ministries and commissions, rural entrepreneurship has flourished. From 2012 to the end of 2022, the cumulative number of returning and rural entrepreneurs reached 12.2 million. Among them, more than 15% have a college degree or higher, and most are engaged in new industries and new business formats such as rural e-commerce and the integration of rural primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, promoting the extension of the agricultural industry chain, driving farmers’ employment and income growth, and effectively contributing to rural revitalization.
