Four years ago, Qiao Weiqi gave up his well-paying job in Beijing to return to his hometown, a poverty-stricken county in Heilongjiang, to sell local farm produce online. His shop currently totals more than 1 million yuan ($161,100) in annual sales.

"Heilongjiang is a large agricultural province with abundant produce," said 27-year-old Qiao. "I was born in a farmer's family and I know about the countryside, so I decided to open a shop on the Internet to sell beans and rice grown by my countrymen."

The online shop was established in 2012 and earned revenue of more than 100,000 yuan in its first year.

Qiao is one of many successful examples of businesspeople in China's northeastern province who have used the Internet in recent years to their advantage. Their integration of Internet technologies with traditional businesses is a reflection of China's growing pursuit of the "Internet Plus" strategy first presented by Premier Li Keqiang in March.

A bean paste factory in Boli county signed a contract with a South Korean company last year through an e-commerce bid to provide 4,000 metric tons of red bean paste.
"Without the Internet, no one would imagine we could sell the beans to the popular South Korean bakery Paris Baguette," said Gao Fengshan, chief of the factory.

But Heilongjiang provincial officials have a much more ambitious plan in the combination of the Internet and the agricultural industry, according to a recent meeting in the provincial capital Harbin.

Lu Hao, governor of the province, called for a "big agriculture, big granary, big kitchen" initiative that ensures all of the data from organic farming is published online and that information about local farm produce, such as place of origin, natural conditions, sales channels and brands, is shown on products both online and offline.

He also suggested that the Internet be used to deploy agricultural machinery efficiently and to customize insurance products for farmers.

Local experts said the province has many advantages in developing an "Internet plus agriculture" model, including a foundation of traditional agricultural, ecological and advanced processing industries as well as trade with Russia.

"Organic agriculture is an area with great growth space in China and Heilongjiang has advantages in resources and industrialization," said Lu. "The 'Internet plus agriculture' model will help the province release its economic potentials."

The government plans to develop 1,000 pilot farms across the province that will integrate the Internet with organic farming so that the products will "not only grow well, but also sell well", the governor said.

He said many elements can be integrated with the Internet, such as market operators, technologies, financial services, logistics and supervision.

"Companies should focus more on product quality, rather than production, to increase profit," he said. "The Internet will show every segment in the production chain to the consumers, to let them supervise and evaluate."

He called for cooperation with some of the most influential domestic online shopping portals to promote local green food.

"The 'Internet Plus' concept is a new way of thinking and a new model of production and lifestyle. It will lead to a series of business and service models that we currently have little idea about," said Lu.

According to official data, last year, online retail sales of companies in Heilongjiang reached 5.8 billion yuan, while people in the province spent 41.3 billion yuan shopping online. Both numbers increased nearly by half from the previous year.

The governor also suggested the Internet be integrated with other businesses such as healthcare and education.

Contact the writers through zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn


[Photo/China Daily]

Known as China's great northern granary, Heilongjiang province is applying its agricultural strengths to develop a new regional business model called "Internet plus agriculture".