Internet technology helps Xichuan's farmers grow revenues

At first glance, the orchards dotted around Nanyang's Xichuan county, Henan province have a sleepy, timeless look to them. But agriculture in this region is being revolutionized as local farmers adopt the latest Internet technology in a bid to grow revenues.

In this ancient corner of central China, where recorded history goes back more than 3,000 years, local farmers are now crowdfunding new projects, selling their produce via their own e-commerce sites and using the latest data from the county's online market information platform to decide which crops to plant for the next season.

The drive to introduce online technology was first sparked by the local government, which hired an IT expert to train an army of volunteer students in how to use e-commerce, market data and other techniques to make agribusinesses more efficient.

The students then passed on this knowledge to Xichuan's farmers, and many of them are already reaping the benefits.

"With the assistance of the Internet, we've been able to find buyers for our peaches all around the country, making us more than 8 million yuan ($1.2 million)," said Zhao Bingguo, the manager of a local peach cooperative.

Zhao's early success has convinced others in Xichuan to follow his lead. More than 30 local forestry enterprises and cooperatives now run their own websites to sell their products, which have so far brought total revenues of 150 million yuan ($22.5 million), according to local government statistics.

Local entrepreneurs are also using the Internet in other areas of their businesses. Shi Yanli, who runs a forestry business, has found that going online has saved him lots of time when ordering new stock.

"I ordered new trees online from a planter in Hefei (the capital of Anhui province), and they arrived in just two days," he said.

Financing new ventures has also become much simpler thanks to the introduction of crowdfunding sites. When the county teamed up with Kangyuan Agricultural Co Ltd to plant 3,000 mu (200 hectares) of new pomegranate trees in 2014, for example, it was able to attract more than 6 million yuan ($900,000) of investment through a crowdfunding campaign.

With China's leadership placing increasing emphasis on promoting an Internet Plus economy, it is hoped that Xichuan's success will inspire farmers across China to go digital in the coming years.