Agricultural e-commerce development must first let farmers make money rather than spend money

On the morning of the 25th, the Second Western E-commerce Development Summit Forum was held in Chengdu, where guests, experts and rural e-commerce practitioners gathered to jointly explore the path of rural e-commerce development. The attending experts unanimously agreed that in the "Internet Plus" era, rural e-commerce must first properly handle the relationship between "buying" and "selling," and must first let farmers make money rather than simply having them spend money first.

Wu Xiuyuan, deputy director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture of China, stated that agricultural e-commerce is the entry point of modern agriculture. "Internet Plus" has provided a rare historical opportunity for the development of agricultural e-commerce, for driving agriculture's "leapfrog development," for helping farmers "overtake on the curve," and for narrowing the urban-rural "digital divide." Since the beginning of this year, the State Council has successively issued a series of important documents, all of which place agriculture in a prominent position and have made important arrangements for agricultural and rural e-commerce. The Internet Plus modern agriculture initiative provides major impetus for promoting the development of agricultural e-commerce.

Wu Xiuyuan said that Internet Plus modern agriculture can create a wave of mass entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation in rural areas, enabling every rural "self-employed individual" to unleash new entrepreneurial potential. It can drive information, technology, materials, capital and talent to flow to rural areas, spawn many new products, new business forms and new business models, promote the prosperity and development of the rural economy, and provide new momentum for stabilizing economic growth.

At the same time, she also believes that there are currently two obvious misconceptions about agricultural e-commerce development: first, that agricultural e-commerce equals opening a shop on Taobao or JD.com; second, that agricultural e-commerce is merely a means of circulation unrelated to agricultural production. Therefore, the development of rural agricultural e-commerce faces many challenges: awareness issues, talent issues, policy issues, logistics issues, brand issues, standards and safety issues, and model issues, among others.

Hou Enlong, COO of Suning Commerce, pointed out in the exchange that how to break through in rural e-commerce and innovate models is very important. What exactly is lacking in rural e-commerce development is a question that local leaders and e-commerce operators must consider. For example, how can the widely praised Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan liquor and Sichuan tea reach the dining tables of households across the country and even the world? What is lacking is a platform with development strength. It can be seen that the three core elements of rural e-commerce development -- platform, logistics and service -- can form a truly efficient green path for rural e-commerce. Only in this way can Sichuan's characteristics be packaged as a whole into both online and offline channels.

The person in charge of Tianhu Yunshang rural e-commerce, which was cultivated and developed locally in Sichuan, also believes that the central government has issued documents continuously to promote rural e-commerce development, but there are urgent problems to be solved: the rural e-commerce model is unclear, information is asymmetric, and rural e-commerce infrastructure and logistics facilities are lagging behind; the added value of agricultural products is low and sales channels are lacking; the purchase of production materials is difficult and quality is hard to guarantee; and farmers lack channels to acquire knowledge such as breeding techniques. One of the core points of rural e-commerce development is to first push agricultural products into cities and do a good job in the "selling" process. This process is especially important. Only then comes bringing industrial products to the countryside, which is a "buying" process. The two must not be reversed. Only when more is sold can the platform be vibrant, logistics be activated, and service quality be delivered.

It is understood that among Sichuan's e-commerce sectors, rural e-commerce is a major highlight. At present, Sichuan Province has created a total of 17 national-level pilot counties for e-commerce entering rural areas, ranking second in the country, and 9 provincial-level pilot counties. Renshou, Anyue, Qingshen, Zhongjiang and other places are nationally known models of "Sichuan rural e-commerce mode." The experience of 10 national-level rural business information service pilot counties has been promoted nationwide. A number of local specialty agricultural product advantage platforms such as Haha Farm, Shihaha and Jiangdouwang are expanding rapidly. In 2014, Sichuan Province sold 2.6 million tons of agricultural and sideline products online, with sales reaching 12.6 billion yuan.