How to seize new opportunities in the era of Internet Plus agriculture, rural areas and farmers?
After Premier Li Keqiang mentioned the concept of "Internet Plus" in the government work report, it dominated the public opinion circles of the "Two Sessions", ranking high on the list of hot search terms. The Premier stressed that an "Internet Plus" action plan must be formulated to make emerging consumption, with the Internet as the carrier and online-offline interaction, flourish.
In fact, information technologies such as the Internet are by no means exclusive to emerging industries; the "+" itself symbolizes infinite imagination and possibility. If traditional agriculture, backward rural areas and disadvantaged farmers are to have a curve to overtake others and win through late-mover advantage on the journey toward modernization, "Internet Plus" is bound to be an excellent opportunity granted by the times.
From broadband entering villages and information reaching households to the building of comprehensive agricultural services and government information platforms, and then to "smart agriculture" and rural e-commerce, the pace of informatization in China's agriculture and rural areas has never stopped. However, the urban-rural digital divide and rural information islands still exist widely; the capacity to use information technology to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture is still relatively lacking; in some areas, the foundation for information services is weak, farmers' ability to obtain information is poor, and information needs are difficult to meet effectively. Against this background, how can the development of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" board the informatization "high-speed rail train" of "Internet Plus"?
It is necessary to accelerate "hardware" allocation and realize "Internet Plus rural areas". The construction of rural informatization infrastructure, such as projects to bring fiber optics into villages and households, must be sped up, and rural information service stations must have premises, staff and equipment. The supporting facilities for rural e-commerce must be promptly incorporated into the overall planning of new socialist countryside construction for coordinated consideration, and the required warehousing and public service facilities must be designed with foresight. At the same time, social capital such as e-commerce enterprises should be used to improve the rural logistics distribution system and spur the blossoming of tens of millions of distinctive "Taobao villages" everywhere.
It is necessary to speed up "software" upgrading and realize "Internet Plus agriculture". In view of the situation in which the high investment required for "smart agriculture" makes agriculture-related enterprises hesitate, resulting in weak driving effects, special subsidies should be set up to leverage social investment and promote the demonstration application of modern information technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, mobile Internet and 3S, as well as intelligent agricultural equipment, in agricultural production and operation. At the same time, agricultural information systems should be enriched and updated in a targeted way; to put it plainly, this means adding the content farmers most want to know and now lack, such as "what is right to plant in spring, what sells at a high price in autumn, and what means of production is most cost-effective to buy".
It is necessary to cultivate talent support and realize "Internet Plus farmers". Once the network is connected, it must also be used. The "last mile" problem of farmers sharing the dividends of informatization is ultimately determined by farmers' ability to master and apply technology. College student village officials, rural young people who lead others to prosperity, returning entrepreneurs and some self-employed households should be encouraged to become leaders in rural e-commerce entrepreneurship, driving new-type professional farmers, family farm owners and cooperative members to broadly become market entities with Internet thinking and mastery of information technology, and to taste the fruits borne by informatization.
In this way, "Internet Plus" will not only avoid becoming a new manifestation of the urban-rural gap, but will also become a new driving force that compels reform in "agriculture, rural areas and farmers", giving agriculture and rural areas the wings of informatization in the process of moving toward modernization, and pulling hundreds of millions of farmers to achieve higher incomes through broadband and moderate prosperity through the keyboard.