With e-commerce, agriculture attracts more young people

Updated: June 17, 2022

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In China, e-commerce is playing an increasingly important role in pushing forward the digital transition of villages and promotion of refined agricultural produce.

FreshHippo Village has settled in Zhongsuo, Kunming, capital of Southwest China’s Yunnan province. Since May, it has provided 33 varieties of vegetables to its outlets nationwide.

FreshHippo Village has been able to develop a stable supply-demand relationship between farmers and consumers. It now has over 100 vegitable villiages in China.

“Farmers grew whatever they wanted in the past, making it hard to develop large-scale planting. But now it is another story. Orders even come before plowing starts. More than 266 hectares of land in the village are planted with organic vegetables, and they will be sold to markets in big cities after being packaged,” a villager said.

As farming changes from manual work to skilled work, many people's monthly incomes have doubled and the average age of farmers is 20 years younger than before.

After graduating from college, Duan Yihong worked thousands of miles away from home in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Three years ago, after he heard how profitable farming could be, he chose to quit and return to his hometown.

The supply chain and logistics system have continued to improve, with many cold chain trucks heading toward 18 provinces and cities.

Zhongsuo is a perfect place for vegetables to grow, with sufficient sunshine and an annual average temperature of 16.5 Celsius degrees. Four hundred of the 2,600 residents of the village are able to join in the planting and processing of organic vegetables, with many of them enjoying an average salary of 5,000-7,000 yuan($1044.47).