Internet Plus Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers Ushers in a Spring of Development
What is “Internet Plus Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers”? From a practical standpoint, rural e-commerce is an important manifestation. In recent years, rural e-commerce has flourished, boosting farmers' incomes and driving rural economic development.
The rise of rural e-commerce
Rural e-commerce has shown an explosive trend since 2009. By 2013, on the Taobao and Tmall platforms alone, parcels sent from county areas reached about 1.4 billion, and the number of online stores registered in rural areas (including counties) on Taobao and Tmall exceeded 2 million. The results of rural e-commerce development are mainly reflected in the following three aspects:
⟦NL> Individual farmers' e-commerce entrepreneurship emerged spontaneously. Large numbers of migrant workers returning home, returning college students and some college-graduate village officials began using e-commerce, this convenient platform, to sell rural local specialty products. Du Qianli, founder of the national top 100 online merchant “Shanzhiyun” specialty store, returned to rural areas to start a business after graduating with an MBA. Using a single network cable, he sold wild medicinal herbs, green coarse grains and other products from the Taihang Mountains via the Internet. In 2011, he achieved 1.5 million yuan in revenue, and local specialty purchase prices increased by an average of 1—7 times.
Agglomeration formed with villages as the region. The new phenomenon of “Taobao villages” began to appear, namely a large number of online merchants gathering in rural areas, using Taobao as the main trading platform, forming an e-commerce ecological phenomenon with scale effects and synergy effects. Generally, the number of online merchants reached more than 10% of local households, and the scale of e-commerce transactions reached more than 10 million yuan. By the end of 2014, 211 Taobao villages had been discovered in China, covering 70,000 online stores, directly employing 280,000 people, and bringing large amounts of indirect employment in service industries such as logistics and express delivery and packaging.
A new e-commerce economy formed with counties as units. According to a summary by the Ali Research Institute, ten major models of county-level e-commerce development had initially formed across the country. Yiwu City in Zhejiang Province, known for small commodity wholesale, achieved the transformation of recreating a Yiwu online. In 2013, Taobao seller accounts (including Tmall) registered in Yiwu reached 100,000, exceeding the number of merchants in Yiwu International Trade City (about 70,000); the scale of e-commerce transactions was 85.6 billion yuan, and transaction volume also exceeded that of the physical market.
Internet Plus: New opportunities for agriculture, rural areas and farmers
E-commerce brings major opportunities for the development of agriculture and rural areas in transition, highlighted in five aspects.
It has created an effective platform for young people to start businesses in rural areas. For e-commerce entrepreneurship, all that is needed is a computer, a network cable and a registered Taobao account to open for business. Startup capital requires only several thousand yuan. Products are produced by farmers, shipping is handled by logistics companies, and one only needs to make good use of the Internet. It also satisfies young people's entrepreneurial psychology of wanting dignity, good income and trendiness.
It provides an effective vehicle for connecting agricultural products with the market. The Internet has greatly promoted the dissemination and matching of information, effectively alleviating the problem of unsold agricultural products. On November 25, 2013, the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture, together with Alibaba Group, officially launched “Taobao.com · Specialty China Hainan Pavilion”. In just three days, coconut rice alone sold 63% of the previous offline total annual sales for the entire island. The Ali Research Center estimated that in 2014 the scale of China's agricultural product e-commerce would reach 100 billion yuan, doubling again from 2013.
It has created an effective way to increase farmers' incomes. At present, the monthly income of people in rural e-commerce generally ranges from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, while the income of farmers not online is generally 1,500 yuan to 2,000 yuan. The former have quickly become “village white-collar workers” through e-commerce. In particular, some local specialty agricultural products, once an e-commerce platform is available, can meet consumers directly, greatly reducing intermediate links, and farmers' incomes increase noticeably. In Tiandong County, Guangxi, the “hometown of Chinese mangoes,” more than 3,500 online stores already sell Tiandong fragrant mangoes. Generally, the fruit is picked the same day, shipped the same day, and delivered to consumers in 3 to 4 days. Online stores have lower costs than physical stores, and the added value of mangoes is higher than in physical stores, leaving more room for profit.
It provides an effective entry point for transforming the mode of agricultural development. E-commerce gradually shifts blind production toward positioning based on the market, producing only after orders are received, fundamentally avoiding difficulty in selling. In March 2014, Jixi County, Anhui Province, launched China's first private customized farm project——“Jutudi”. Users only need to order a certain share of land in advance, and each month they can receive vegetables and fruits produced from the land, and stay and travel locally for free. Within just 5 days of the project's release, it received 500 million clicks, more than 3,500 participants purchased, 465 mu of land were sold for 2.28 million yuan, and farmers' income per mu of land increased by more than 2,000 yuan.
It has opened up new growth points in the rural consumer market. Among 2,006 county-level regions nationwide, more than 30 million people shopped on Taobao in 2012, spending 179 billion yuan. Research shows that of every 100 yuan consumers spend through online retail, about 61 yuan is substitutional consumption, that is, shifted from offline consumption to online; but the other 39 yuan is incremental consumption generated by the stimulation of online shopping; and in third- and fourth-tier county areas, the new online consumption increment is as high as 57 yuan, clearly driving consumption. In some places, Taobao agents specializing in proxy online shopping for villagers have already appeared. Large numbers of Internet and e-commerce enterprises began to explore the rural market. Alibaba began intensive research on rural e-commerce, and e-commerce giants such as JD.com and Suning began setting up rural delivery points, setting off a wave of going to the countryside.
“Internet Plus Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers” needs government support
To guide the healthy development of “Internet Plus Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers,” it is necessary to raise awareness, clarify thinking and adopt appropriate measures.
Raise awareness and introduce more proactive policies. Popularize e-commerce knowledge among leading officials, improve understanding of rural e-commerce and increase work efforts. On the basis of issuing overall opinions on e-commerce development, attention should be paid to the development of rural e-commerce. In addition to commerce departments coordinating e-commerce development, agriculture, supply and marketing, poverty alleviation and other agriculture-related departments should also attach importance to and strengthen the introduction of clear support policies for agricultural product e-commerce, cultivate a group of agricultural product e-commerce demonstration counties, demonstration townships, Taobao villages and a large number of rural e-commerce demonstration enterprises (stores), promote the overall packaging of local specialty agricultural products and launch them online in a concentrated way; and pilot e-commerce poverty alleviation projects.
Strengthen talent training and grasp the key elements of e-commerce development. E-commerce is the integration of the Internet industry and traditional industries, requiring a large number of modern talents familiar with Internet knowledge and technology. At present, the national e-commerce talent gap is 1.5 million, and the foundation of rural e-commerce talent is especially weak. It is estimated that in the next two years the e-commerce talent gap below the county level will be about 2 million. To develop rural e-commerce, the cultivation of professional talents must be placed in an important position: attract a group through preferential policies, cultivate a group by establishing training bases and e-commerce incubation bases, and support and strengthen a group through supporting policies such as startup loans, so that talent leads rural e-commerce development. Since the main body engaged in e-commerce is young people, it is recommended to list special funds and implement a youth e-commerce entrepreneurship training plan.
Highlight local characteristics and adopt flexible e-commerce development strategies. Make good use of the regional characteristics of agriculture, fully leverage the advantages of diverse ecologies in different places, determine the focus of county-level e-commerce development according to local conditions, select representative specialty products and prioritize focused launches; do both retail-oriented e-commerce for agricultural products and expand online wholesale trading of agricultural products; transform the agricultural product marketing model according to e-commerce thinking, improve the standardization of production, processing and packaging and the construction of a full-process traceability system for quality, and accelerate the push of regional brands of agricultural products toward market brands led by enterprises.
Strengthen industrial supporting facilities and reinforce government action. From the already published county-level e-commerce models, the common feature is government promotion. Especially in the less developed western regions, the government's role is even more important. In what direction county-level e-commerce should develop and to what extent, the government should put forward a clear strategy, have long-term and phased goals, form an executable development plan and guide practical development. Special attention should be paid to suggestions for industrial supporting facilities, mainly including issues in the construction of industrial chains such as e-commerce parks, communications, logistics and packaging processing, as well as support policies. At the same time, it is necessary to create a good atmosphere, work hard on publicity, change the concepts of officials and the public, and keep up with the ever-changing “Internet Plus Agriculture, Rural Areas and Farmers” era.