Page 396 - 2019 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 396
9 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
All this is crucial to upgrading agricultural performance Chinese tech companies are already getting into
and raising farmers’ income. As an important means farming, often providing for very strange bed partners.
for integrated rural development, the Internet Plus NetEase is a video-gaming company also runs a pig-
Agriculture model has made a notable difference in rearing division. Ni Jinde launched Weiyang, its swine
recent years. The model has played a key role in raising affiliate, almost a decade ago. NetEase has become
farmers’ income and helping them tide over low prices of part of a gigantic agricultural venture. China’s 430
agricultural products. million swine account for over half of the world’s herd,
and its US$1trillion industry produces more pork than
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural any other country. Yet pig-rearing remains remarkably
Affairs show that recent years have seen new forms of inefficient. It has long been a family affair: nine in ten of
industry flourish in the rural areas driven by a boom of an estimated 40 million pig farmers are thought to raise
local e-commerce. In 2017, the online retail sales in rural fewer than 50 hogs a year. Only about one in five Chinese
areas totaled 1.25 trillion yuan (about US$191 billion), sows is in industrialized production. But small-scale
among which the online sales of agricultural products farms lack measures to prevent the spread of disease;
approached 300 billion yuan. Over 28 million jobs this has allowed a deadly swine fever to run riot since a
were created as a result. By the end of that year, a total first reported case in August 2018. In 2013 over 16,000
of 7.4 million people had chosen to start businesses in carcasses of pigs dumped by farmers were dredged from
rural areas by 2017, among which more than half used a river that supplies tap water to Shanghai. Since then,
internet technology. The Internet Plus Agriculture model new pollution standards that ban livestock production
will be critical for creating rural employment, increasing near water sources or towns, and which require proper
farmers’ income and boosting rural development. It was treatment of manure, have led to closure for tens of
also decided at the State Council executive meeting to thousands of smallholdings. The closures are likely to
accelerate IT application in agricultural production. Big accelerate China’s transition to modern production.
data, the Internet of Things and cloud computing will Large-scale experiments in pig-rearing are under way
be harnessed for more efficient agricultural production in the form of multi-storey farms. A complex on Yaji
management and for digitized, internet-based and smart mountain in southern China has 13 levels, with 1,000 pigs
agricultural production and operation, particularly in to a floor. But these structures are pricey, partly because
areas such as seed breeding, farmland management and of the measures they require to prevent disease from
pest control. Information technology will also be more tearing through the building.
widely used in the distribution of agricultural products.
The Internet Plus model will be implemented to widen China’s internet giants think that bringing technology
the circulation of agricultural products. The services of to the pigsty is the answer. NetEase is not alone in marrying
e-commerce platforms and logistics efficiency need to be tech and animal husbandry. JD.com, an e-commerce firm
improved to better match the demand of e-commerce that is an investor in Weiyang, raises and sells “jogging
businesses and supply from small household farmers, chickens” that each take a million steps before the chop,
family farms and farm cooperatives. Supporting facilities, making the meat more succulent than that of sedentary
such as processing, packaging, storage, preservation fowl. In June 2018, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba,
and cold chain logistics will be strengthened to an internet company based in Hangzhou, unveiled an
improve the marketability of farm produce and resolve “agricultural brain” that helps farmers monitor pigs in
the underpricing of quality products. The possibility real time through visual and “voice” recognition powered
of government purchase of services will be explored, by artificial intelligence. Alibaba’s program, which is
and private entities will be encouraged to develop undergoing tests in Sichuan province, picks up the squeal
new internet-based business models that benefit the of a crushed piglet or the bleat of a sick sow, and alerts the
farmers and further encourage mass entrepreneurship farmer. Cameras in the pens track daily activity and vital
and innovation in rural areas. Agriculture-related public signs by way of numbers stamped on the animals’ backs.
information and service platforms will be established. It uses this trove of data to draw up exercise regimes. It
More training on IT application will be provided to small reckons that its system can increase to 32 the number of
household farmers new types of agricultural businesses piglets per sow per year, a measure of efficiency in the pig
and owners of “agritainment” so that smart phones business. That would double the output of many Chinese
become a new and powerful farm implement (Xinhua, farms. Foreign suppliers also hope to put their snouts
Internet Plus a Boost). in the trough as pig farming industrializes. Hog Slat,
396
All this is crucial to upgrading agricultural performance Chinese tech companies are already getting into
and raising farmers’ income. As an important means farming, often providing for very strange bed partners.
for integrated rural development, the Internet Plus NetEase is a video-gaming company also runs a pig-
Agriculture model has made a notable difference in rearing division. Ni Jinde launched Weiyang, its swine
recent years. The model has played a key role in raising affiliate, almost a decade ago. NetEase has become
farmers’ income and helping them tide over low prices of part of a gigantic agricultural venture. China’s 430
agricultural products. million swine account for over half of the world’s herd,
and its US$1trillion industry produces more pork than
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural any other country. Yet pig-rearing remains remarkably
Affairs show that recent years have seen new forms of inefficient. It has long been a family affair: nine in ten of
industry flourish in the rural areas driven by a boom of an estimated 40 million pig farmers are thought to raise
local e-commerce. In 2017, the online retail sales in rural fewer than 50 hogs a year. Only about one in five Chinese
areas totaled 1.25 trillion yuan (about US$191 billion), sows is in industrialized production. But small-scale
among which the online sales of agricultural products farms lack measures to prevent the spread of disease;
approached 300 billion yuan. Over 28 million jobs this has allowed a deadly swine fever to run riot since a
were created as a result. By the end of that year, a total first reported case in August 2018. In 2013 over 16,000
of 7.4 million people had chosen to start businesses in carcasses of pigs dumped by farmers were dredged from
rural areas by 2017, among which more than half used a river that supplies tap water to Shanghai. Since then,
internet technology. The Internet Plus Agriculture model new pollution standards that ban livestock production
will be critical for creating rural employment, increasing near water sources or towns, and which require proper
farmers’ income and boosting rural development. It was treatment of manure, have led to closure for tens of
also decided at the State Council executive meeting to thousands of smallholdings. The closures are likely to
accelerate IT application in agricultural production. Big accelerate China’s transition to modern production.
data, the Internet of Things and cloud computing will Large-scale experiments in pig-rearing are under way
be harnessed for more efficient agricultural production in the form of multi-storey farms. A complex on Yaji
management and for digitized, internet-based and smart mountain in southern China has 13 levels, with 1,000 pigs
agricultural production and operation, particularly in to a floor. But these structures are pricey, partly because
areas such as seed breeding, farmland management and of the measures they require to prevent disease from
pest control. Information technology will also be more tearing through the building.
widely used in the distribution of agricultural products.
The Internet Plus model will be implemented to widen China’s internet giants think that bringing technology
the circulation of agricultural products. The services of to the pigsty is the answer. NetEase is not alone in marrying
e-commerce platforms and logistics efficiency need to be tech and animal husbandry. JD.com, an e-commerce firm
improved to better match the demand of e-commerce that is an investor in Weiyang, raises and sells “jogging
businesses and supply from small household farmers, chickens” that each take a million steps before the chop,
family farms and farm cooperatives. Supporting facilities, making the meat more succulent than that of sedentary
such as processing, packaging, storage, preservation fowl. In June 2018, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba,
and cold chain logistics will be strengthened to an internet company based in Hangzhou, unveiled an
improve the marketability of farm produce and resolve “agricultural brain” that helps farmers monitor pigs in
the underpricing of quality products. The possibility real time through visual and “voice” recognition powered
of government purchase of services will be explored, by artificial intelligence. Alibaba’s program, which is
and private entities will be encouraged to develop undergoing tests in Sichuan province, picks up the squeal
new internet-based business models that benefit the of a crushed piglet or the bleat of a sick sow, and alerts the
farmers and further encourage mass entrepreneurship farmer. Cameras in the pens track daily activity and vital
and innovation in rural areas. Agriculture-related public signs by way of numbers stamped on the animals’ backs.
information and service platforms will be established. It uses this trove of data to draw up exercise regimes. It
More training on IT application will be provided to small reckons that its system can increase to 32 the number of
household farmers new types of agricultural businesses piglets per sow per year, a measure of efficiency in the pig
and owners of “agritainment” so that smart phones business. That would double the output of many Chinese
become a new and powerful farm implement (Xinhua, farms. Foreign suppliers also hope to put their snouts
Internet Plus a Boost). in the trough as pig farming industrializes. Hog Slat,
396
