Xinjiang agricultural products reach more markets through pairing assistance

Between July and August 2020, Xinjiang sold more than 800 million yuan worth of agricultural products with the help of its counterparts from around the country.

Online influencers Zhu Huating (left), Aliye Ablimit (right), and Muqeddes Weli (center) stand inside a vineyard while reaching out to their followers from across the country during a livestreamed broadcast promoting fresh grapes grown locally in Turpan, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. (People’s Daily Online/Kou Jie)

Due to distance and logistics constraints, in the past, agricultural products from Xinjiang could only be sold within the region, preventing local farmers from increasing their income.

Maimaijiang Abdulraxman is a fruit grower in the city of Aksu, who had experienced difficulty selling his fruits in past harvest seasons.

Last July, Maimaijiang signed a contract with a local agricultural technology company to purchase all of his fruits and distribute them to more than 100 stores in 10 cities in east China’s Zhejiang province. Now, he receives orders for fruits even before the harvest season.

As a result of the scheme, about 350,000 tons of agricultural products with a total value of 5 billion yuan were sold from Aksu Prefecture and the First Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to Zhejiang.

Officials from Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province stationed in a village in Kashgar city to offer pairing assistance have also been promoting local products by hosting livestream shows since last year.

During a two-hour livestream session held this June, apricots grown by the villagers realized sales of more than 60,000 yuan.

Besides building online sales platforms, Shenzhen has also introduced products from Kashgar to gas stations, expressway service areas and supermarkets in the city. Last year, Shenzhen sold 11,600 tons of farming products from Kashgar, notching up a sales volume of 230 million yuan.

On March 26, several heavy-duty trucks loaded with red jujubes, walnuts, dried fruits and dairy products departed from Kashgar for Shandong province in east China. On arrival, the products were kept in warehouses for further sales and delivery.

Under a poverty alleviation project, Shandong and Xinjiang mobilized more than 100 companies to form an alliance under which companies from Shandong directly purchase farming products from villagers in Xinjiang, share logistics services with each other, and build warehouses near markets in Shandong.

“We have greatly expanded markets for high-quality farming products from Kashgar by lowering transportation costs, reducing the involvement of intermediate dealers, and quickly docking the supply side with the demand side,” explained Zhang Chengwei, director of the office for pairing assistance strategy in Shandong province.

By the end of 2020, five warehouses with a total area of more than 11,000 square meters had been built in Shandong, and 18 specialty stores and 180 franchised shops selling products from Kashgar have been opened in 16 cities in the province.