The total trading volume of agricultural supplies on the combined platforms of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba reached 2.57 billion yuan ($386 million) in 2017, according to the latest statistics released by the company.
700 counties across China are now covered by the services of Alibaba’s retailing site Taobao, and each of these counties bought an average of 3.5 million yuan of agricultural supplies over the last year.
In addition to chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Chinese farmers even bought farming vehicles and drones from online platforms.
According to a farmer named Cheng Peng, from eastern China’s Jiangxi province, a drone can apply fertilizer to 133 hectares of farmland within 20 hours, which is much more efficient than the human equivalent.
In 2017, 1.5 billion parcels were received by over 30,000 service stations of Taobao in rural China. In central China's Henan province, over 500 of them received more than 80 every day.
Statistics indicate that nearly 300 large home appliances were sold in the rural province of Shandong, and a rural service station in the province’s city of Heze even sold 158 lipsticks.
According to Alibaba’s research institute, AliResearch, 832 impoverished counties across China are now selling products via the company’s e-commerce platforms. In addition, the rural-business division of Taobao has nurtured 160 agricultural brands and launched 486 tailored products to help lift people out of poverty.