How can agriculture, rural areas and farmers ride the east wind of the Internet

Right now, riding the "east wind" of the Internet, many industries, including agriculture, have taken on new vitality. Combining tradition with modernity, and offline with online, the vast rural areas have found a good path to development and prosperity.

How to expand and follow this new path? The State Council executive meeting held on October 14 deployed accelerated development of rural e-commerce, aiming to boost consumption and benefit people's livelihoods by strengthening new business forms. The meeting held that organically combining physical stores with e-commerce, so that the real economy and the Internet produce a superimposed effect, is conducive to boosting consumption, expanding domestic demand, and promoting agricultural upgrading, rural development and farmers' income growth.

How great can the effect of rural e-commerce be? Take Jixi County, Anhui Province, as an example. In March 2014, the area launched the country's first privately customized farm project, "Jutudi." As long as users order a certain share of land in advance, they can receive vegetables and fruits produced on the land every month and enjoy free local accommodation and travel. Within just 5 days of the project's release, it received 500 million clicks, more than 3,500 people joined in purchasing, 465 mu of land were sold for 2.28 million yuan, and farmers' income increased by more than 2,000 yuan per mu of land.

Rural e-commerce can not only benefit "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," but also promote its own development. For example, the shatu melon seeds produced by Shandong Shatu Food Industry Co., Ltd. are a local specialty product. Last year, the company's online flagship store had sales of nearly 4 million yuan, and online sales are expected to exceed 5 million yuan this year, making it a pioneer among traditional agricultural product companies entering e-commerce.

Practice has proved that e-commerce brings major opportunities for the development of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers," and the "Internet Plus" model has injected new vitality into China's economy. As long as it meets the needs of economic and social development, it should be pursued unremittingly.

This year's government work report proposed "accelerating the transformation of the agricultural development model"; the "Opinions of the State Council on Vigorously Developing E-Commerce and Accelerating the Cultivation of New Economic Momentum," issued in May this year, proposed "strengthening the integrated development of the Internet with agriculture and rural areas, introducing modern management concepts and methods such as industrial chains, value chains and supply chains, studying and formulating opinions on promoting rural e-commerce development, and introducing supporting policies and measures." With government support, rural e-commerce has even broader prospects.

This executive meeting proposed creating a favorable online consumption environment, strictly cracking down on illegal acts such as selling counterfeit and shoddy goods online, and encouraging entrepreneurship and employment through the Internet. This provides support and safeguards for the currently vigorous "mass entrepreneurship and innovation," and also creates conditions for cultivating rural e-commerce talent.

The story of "Prince of Qiegao" Adili realizing his dream through the Internet warmed and inspired many people. This Uyghur young man and his university classmates run a Xinjiang qiegao business online. Through more than a year of operation, he has become a seller far ahead in sales and ranking on Taobao. He has not only realized the dream of "serving his hometown and developing his hometown," but also fulfilled his personal entrepreneurial dream. In real life, there are many more people like Adili who carry dreams. And joining hands with the Internet to become an e-commerce entrepreneur is one path to approaching and realizing dreams.

When hundreds of millions of farmers take to the new stage of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" by "getting connected," "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" will surely ride the "east wind" of the Internet and reap abundant fruits in the fields of hope.