Strong Support for Agriculture-Related E-Commerce Boosts Leapfrog Development of Agriculture
Aksu sugar-heart apples, Danjiangkou Reservoir "love fish," fragrant new rice from Northeast China, Argentine red shrimp, premium Australian beef and mutton... Nowadays, with a click of the mouse, you can buy quality agricultural products from all over the country without leaving home, which not only makes things convenient for urban residents but also rewards farmers for their hard work.
The 2015 No. 1 Central Document proposed innovating the circulation methods of agricultural products. Support e-commerce, logistics, commerce and trade, finance and other enterprises in participating in the construction of agriculture-related e-commerce platforms.
In recent years, China's agriculture-related e-commerce has developed rapidly. Platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com have seen considerable transaction volumes for agricultural products; agricultural product e-commerce companies such as COFCO Womai, SF Best, and Benlai Life have grown quickly; and grassroots e-commerce entrepreneurs such as Wang Xiaobang, the "coarse grains king" of Shanxi, have shown vitality.
"The entry of the internet into agriculture will have a disruptive impact on the circulation model of agricultural products. Although its current share is low, its growth is fast," said Zhang Hongyu, director of the Department of Rural Economic System and Operation Management of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Zhao Pingyuan, general manager of COFCO Womai, said that developing agriculture-related e-commerce is conducive, on the one hand, to solving the problem of "difficulty in connecting" scattered smallholder production with the large market, promoting smooth information flow, reducing circulation links, resolving "difficulty in selling and high prices for buying," and helping farmers increase income and employment; on the other hand, terminal demand forces the front-end production link to "standardize," promoting the establishment of a traceability system, which is conducive to improving product quality and promoting green and personalized production.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture, at present the proportion of online sales of agricultural products in China accounts for about 2% of total circulation, of which dry goods and processed products account for 80%, while fresh products such as fruits, vegetables and aquatic products have all increased by more than 300%, making it necessary to accelerate the resolution of bottleneck problems in the development of agriculture-related e-commerce. Wang Xiaobing, deputy director of the Department of Market and Economic Information of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that at present there are problems such as the weak e-commerce access capacity of agricultural production and operation entities, difficulty in organizing sources of goods, and an incomplete cold-chain logistics system.
"Enterprises hope to increase investment in cold-chain logistics, but the approval rate for cold-chain truck licenses is relatively low, and electric vehicles for terminal delivery are often restricted in traffic rectification campaigns," Zhao Pingyuan said. He hopes that policies will be effectively introduced to support the development of cold-chain logistics and encourage farmers' cooperatives and other entities to connect with e-commerce platforms.
Industry experts also suggested accelerating the promotion of related database services for e-commerce development and encouraging brand building and promotion.
It is understood that in 2015, agricultural departments took agricultural e-commerce as an important way to improve quality, increase efficiency and transform the development model, and would carry out e-commerce skills training for agricultural production and operation entities, organize agricultural production and operation entities to connect with e-commerce enterprises, and carry out pilot demonstration work for agricultural e-commerce.
The No. 1 Central Document made clear that comprehensive demonstrations for e-commerce entering rural areas will be carried out.
Experts pointed out that at present China has 178 million rural internet users, and the online shopping rate is relatively low. Promoting e-commerce into rural areas includes both "agricultural products going to the city" and "industrial goods going to the countryside," which is conducive to leveraging the vast rural market and cultivating new growth points.
For many years, because rural consumers live in relatively scattered locations and order density is low, most logistics companies have been unable to reach them. Optimistic about the large rural market, Alibaba has launched the "Thousand Counties and Ten Thousand Villages" plan and will establish 1,000 county-level operation centers and 100,000 village-level service stations within 3 to 5 years; JD.com plans to set up 100,000 village-level delivery stations in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Rim, and provide financial services such as low-interest loans.
Experts pointed out that promoting e-commerce into rural areas requires not only establishing and improving infrastructure such as logistics and networks, but also accelerating the development of rural service industries, establishing and improving rural credit and payment methods, and establishing a product quality inspection and testing system.