Thanks to its unique natural and geographical conditions, Dechang County in Sichuan Province has always been a rich place for cherries, mulberries, strawberries, loquats and other fruits. In particular, Jiaoban Village, is the known as the "hometown of cherries".
In recent years, with the help of e-commerce, the economic development of Dechang County has also reached a new peak. Statistics show that in 2021, the GDP of Dechang County was 8.61 billion RMB, and the transaction volume of the e-commerce platform reached 750 million RMB, accounting for nearly 9%. E-commerce has become an important force driving the local economy.
In the middle and early April of each year, the mulberries and cherries in the mountains and plains of Dechang County are ripe. One of their most representative fruits, Chinese cherries, have become a top-quality product due to their thick flesh and thin skin, delicious taste and sweetness, and they are deeply loved by the people in the surrounding area. As a result, the planting area for Zhonghua cherries in the county is now at over 300 hectares, and the output is about 3,000 tons. Jiaoban Village, at an altitude of 1,400-2,000 meters, is its main production area.
E-commerce opens up new channels for Dechang fruit sales
Compared with rich fruits production in Dechang, the traffic infrastructure in this area is not developed. Although the opening of the Yaxi Expressway has opened up the north-south channel for Dechang County, the important east-west channel is still blocked. Considering that cherries are usually only available for 20 days and are not easy to store and transport, before 2019, the growers in Jiaoban Village could only deliver ripe cherries to vendors in Xichang, Chengdu and other nearby places. Growers had limited income.
The turning point is the rise of e-commerce practitioners represented by Lai Jianfeng. At first, he just liked to post the fruits planted himself on social platforms. Later, he found business opportunities and took the chance of e-commerce sales to bring new vitality to his hometown. The 44-year-old Lai Jianfeng said frankly, "I want to push the fruits of my hometown out to more places."
After determining the target, Lai Jianfeng began to look for an e-commerce platform for fruit sales. Due to the low threshold and large traffic, he finally opened his first online store on the new platform of Pinduoduo e-commerce. In order to ensure that consumers have a pleasant cherry buying experience and further expand the sales, Lai Jianfeng has made great efforts in the picking, packaging and transportation of cherries.
According to Li Pei, deputy director of the Dechang Business and Economic Cooperation and Foreign Affairs Bureau, Dechang County’s efforts to promote e-commerce in rural areas and mobilize farmers to sell local agricultural products online can be traced back to 2015. After entering 2017, Dechang County has also established a county-level e-commerce industry cluster in support of this project. In the future, Dechang County will pay more attention to the creation and construction of public brands of agricultural products, so that more consumers can understand and recognize Dechang, and fully rely on the power of e-commerce to further enhance the popularity and reputation of Dechang agricultural products, said Li Pei.
Source: cnBeta.COM