E-commerce has emerged as a vital tool for poverty alleviation in China's rural areas. Helping to connect agricultural products in poor areas with vast urban markets, it also provides stable and reliable sales channels for high-quality agricultural products.
Take Wangdazhuang village in Ningling county in central China's Henan province as an example. The per capita annual income of 500 farmers in the village used to be less than 4,000 yuan (about $561).
Thanks to the e-commerce poverty alleviation system of Suning, a retail giant in China, some farmers have planted cash crops such as dandelion, while others work in farms or factories in their spare time. At present, their per capita annual income has increased to about 5,000 yuan (about $700).
E-commerce helps alleviate poverty through means such as opening markets for products (especially agricultural products), creating brands, building infrastructure, and skills training.
Internet technology has enabled the promotion of the sale of agricultural goods in rural areas, the enrichment of the dining tables of urban people, the increase of farmers' income and the transformation of agriculture.
"E-commerce can quickly push forward the local e-commerce industry chain and infrastructure construction from the sales side, including warehousing, sorting, transportation to cold storage, photography and live broadcast studios, to help farmers shake off poverty and become rich, " said a manager of Taobao, an e-commerce giant in China.
* This article was published in partnership with People’s Daily Online SA.