E-commerce boosts farmers' lives in old revolutionary base areas

The Hanyuan branch of China Post also helps farmers sell cherries. It purchases cherries from 50 farmers in the cooperative.

"We test the sweetness of cherries and purchase them if they are up to standard," said Yang Yinquan, vice director of the Hanyuan branch of China Post.

To deliver fresh cherries to customers, the branch sets up purchase sites in the main producing areas, employs workers to do the picking, testing, sorting out and packaging work. The fruit can be delivered to customers in Sichuan within 24 hours and to customers outside Sichuan in 48 hours.

The Hanyuan branch helped farmers sell 60 tons of cherries in 40 days of the peak season this year.

According to Hanyuan county's commerce bureau, the government has introduced four e-commerce companies to sell cherries. Many cooperatives and farmers with large-scale orchards have entered e-commerce platforms. Hundreds of farmers sell cherries on their WeChat friends' circle.

In 2015, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Hanyuan reached 9,357 yuan, up 10.2 percent, year-on-year.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have stressed poverty relief for old revolutionary base areas several times, encouraging the regions to make the best of what they have.

Hanyuan’s county government has witnessed e-commerce's role in improving farmers' lives in recent years and decided to do more.

According to a report on e-commerce development in Hanyuan, the government plans to train farmers and cadres to raise their awareness of e-commerce, step up construction on broadband communication facilities, improve transportation and cold-chain logistics, and build a comprehensive platform to draw individual farmers into an alliance, enjoying a scale effect from e-commerce.