In recent years, China has made remarkable achievements in information and communication technology (ICT). The adoption of digital technology greatly promotes rural transformation. Digitalized platforms for agricultural use are prevalent across China and have become an important driving force for agricultural value chain development in rural areas. China's agricultural informatization infrastructure has laid a solid foundation for resource aggregation and mechanism innovation."Internet + modern agriculture" has greatly improved the level of rural governance informatization, digitalization, and intelligence, promoting the digital transformation of Chinese agriculture.
In China, internet infrastructure has greatly improved over time as 98% of administrative villages are now covered with 4G internet and 94% of poor villages are covered with broadband networks. The number of netizens in China also continues to increase. By March 2020, China had 904 million internet users, including 255 million from rural areas, with the internet penetration rate in rural areas at 46.2%.
E-commerce can be considered an effective solution to several difficulties faced by the agricultural sector in the Global South. Smallholder producers operating in traditional food supply chains are the principal food suppliers in such countries, but face high food losses under normal circumstances due to lack of adequate technology and technique to cut post-harvest losses (PHL). This is expected to become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the disruptions from government public health measures causing poor-to-no access to the essential products and services needed by smallholder agricultural producers. Marketclosure coupled with transport restrictions have in many cases degenerated into food shortage conditions, especially for fresh foods, and have furthermore caused a high amount of PHL in quantity and in quality, representing a loss of resources and income for producers. To reduce such losses, an alternative in business strategy innovation is necessary to ensure continued market access of smallholder farmers by connecting them with customers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has become a trend for agrobusiness. E-commerce could help producers reach more retail customers by delivering products from farm to home. Therefore, e-commerce enables producers to better target customers at home to compensate the losses of B2B sales, thus reducing PHL and diversifying their income. Moreover, cross-border e-commerce provides more growth opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises as well as for business model innovation in developing countries and accelerates the growth of localized cross-border e-commerce platforms, bringing further technological and capital cooperation.
As an effective cooperation framework, South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) could accelerate agricultural modernization, including ICT infrastructure, rural E-commerce platforms, logistic and payment services, and empowerment of smallholder farmers through artificial intelligence and big data.The Chinese experience can serve as a successful model for developing countries to foster their e-commerce and thus improve the agricultural value chain in rural areas. This knowledge product, which consists of one policy brief and one fact sheet on successful e-commerce projects, aims to provide SSTC opportunities to developing countries by showcasing China's experience in e-commerce to stakeholders who wish to leverage e-commerce to foster rural development. The policy brief summarizes the policy of the Chinese government on e-commerce and lessons learned from China in recent years. A few recommendations have been elaborated upon for guiding other developing countries to develop e-commerce in their national context and leverage it to reduce rural poverty. The fact sheet on successful projects presents various case studies of government e-commerce projects, stories of local producers, and business models of e-commerce platforms in China for the purpose of showcasing concrete examples from China on e-commerce development for our readers.
Related references:
1. Summary of the Chinese Government ICT Agricultural Reform (2015-2019)
http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2022-09/20/content_78429338.shtml
2. Plans and Strategies Related to E-Commerce Issued by the Chinese Government (2015-2019)
http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2022-09/20/content_78429364.shtml
3. Policies Related to E-commerce Issued by the Chinese Government (2017-2019)
http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2022-09/20/content_78429441.shtml
