Alibaba stepping up rural presence

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Wednesday that it would continue to make more investments to boost its presence in rural areas.

The company, which announced a 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion) rural investment plan, is considering more steps to improve the living conditions of farmers, said Jack Ma, chairman of the group.

Alibaba launched its first "Stocking for China's Lunar New Year Festival" program at an e-commerce summit in Yan'an on Wednesday. The program enables farmers to sell their agriculture products in cities through the Alibaba platforms.