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Chinese farmers surf Internet to sell oranges
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-12 14:38
CHENGDU -- Surfing Internet at dusk has become a daily routine for Luo
Mingjun, a 52-year-old farmer in southwest China's Sichuan Province, though he
is still clumsy with the mouse.
People may be surprised to learn the
farmer got a good bargain selling oranges through the Internet in November.
However, observers of rural China said the number of farmers like Luo is
growing.
Farmers in the relatively rich villages along the coastline
have been seeking agricultural technologies and market information via the
Internet, although computers and the Internet are still novelties for most of
China's 900 million farmers.
The central government has decided to step
up the construction of an information network in rural areas and provide access
to telephone for every village and access to the Internet for every town in the
coming five years.
Luo Mingjun, the owner of an orange orchard of two
hectares, got a Pentium III computer as a prize from the county government of
Pengshan to encourage the plantation of oranges.
Last year, Luo happened
to find a strong national market demand for oranges while surfing the Internet.
He spread the message among local farmers, who then consolidated their position
and successfully raised the wholesale price from 7 U.S. cents per kg to 15
cents.
"We made a good deal thanks to the information on the Internet, "
Luo said.
Luo said villagers were very grateful to him, and some were
considering buying their own computers.
"We offer farmers computers in
the hope that they can enjoy and benefit from information technology. They act
as bellwethers and others will follow suit," Li Wanwen, director of the bureau
of science and technology in Pengshan.
Pengshan County has set up a
website, www.pengshan.net, to market its farm produce. Oranges of the county
have become popular on the market with the advertisement on the website.
However, Li said some remote villages in the county do not even have
access to telephones, much less the Internet. "We are planning to deal with it
in the near future," he said.
In Kaixian County of southwest China's
Chongqing Municipality, farmers receive short messages on agricultural
technology and information on their mobile phones from the local government.
However, among the 111 million netizens in China, only a small
percentage are farmers. There are 9,200 computers in Pengshan County that are
connected to the Internet, but only 156 belong to farmers, according to Li
Wanwen.
"The central government has realized that it is almost
impossible to build a new socialist countryside without the participation of
farmers, who are the owners of villages," said Li Yingsheng, professor with
China People's University.
"To arm farmers with science and technology
is key to the success of the campaign of building a new countryside," the
professor said.
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