Rural e-commerce sheds light on poverty alleviation

An expo aimed at alleviating poverty with the help of rural e-commerce was held in Horinger county in Hohhot on Oct 25, attracting a number of rural e-commerce platforms and farmers. 

"The sales revenues of our platform have exceeded 5,000 yuan ($754) per day since its establishment three months ago," said Guo Xiping, head of a new e-commerce platform, speaking at the expo. 

Guo explained that his platform has worked with the poverty relief office of Wuchuan county and helped the local poverty-stricken families to sell 15 tons of potatoes.

"We hope their products fetch a fairly good price in order to pull people out of poverty," Guo added.

More and more farmers choose to cooperate with rural e-commerce platforms to expand their sales channels.

"I visited the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group last year to embrace new ideas and technologies," said Zhao Bin, a farmer who wants to find a platform to sell his dragon fruit.

Internet firms are scrambling to increase their presence in the countryside, pouring money into improving logistics and building service stations.

There are more than 70 medium-sized e-commerce platforms and over 80 service stations in the county, said Su Jun, head of the united front work department of Horinger county.

The county has also set up shops to sell agricultural products produced by families impacted by poverty, both online and offline.

Agricultural products on display at the expo held in Horinger county in Hohhot on Oct 25 [Photo/nmg.chinanews.com]