Promoters bear fruit for farm labor
Agri-produce brokers develop versatile role as livestreamers, market connectors
An important link
After graduating from university in 2016 and returning to his hometown, Li became involved in agricultural product promotion.
In 2022, after Zhouzhi kiwifruit entered the market, prices rose and then the market cooled. After consulting with the growers, Li began grading the fruit.
The soft fruit was sold through a community group and nearby markets for 6 yuan ($0.9) per kilogram below cost. To sell the remaining "good" fruit, he tried livestreaming.
Villagers joined in the filming and livestreams were held in the fields. Fruit was picked and shipped on the spot and the authentic scenes attracted the first wave of buyers. In one hour, more than 200 orders flooded in.
Li noticed that more than half of the buyers were from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, so he contacted logistics companies to negotiate freight rates. The produce was shipped overnight across more than 2,000 km to Urumqi to a temperature-controlled warehouse, with Li accompanying some early shipments.
In two months, 191,000 kiwifruit orders were placed.
