Livestreams facilitate sales of agricultural products

Livestreams have not only boosted the sales of agricultural products in China, but emerged as a new force in supporting the building of local brands, raising the added value of products and speeding up the building of industrial belts.

Volunteers of a kindergarten in Si'an township, Changxing county, Huzhou city, east China's Zhejiang Province advertise cherries during a livestream. (Photo/Chen Haiwei)

Nyima Tsering, a young Tibetan man in Ludian county, southwest China's Yunnan Province, now sells traditional Chinese medicinal herbs through livestreams.

Thanks to its unique natural conditions, Ludian county is famous for high-quality traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, such as wild caterpillar fungus, an expensive ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Nyima Tsering said in the past, local people waited for middlemen, who were prone to give low prices for their TCM herbs, or carried the herbs to farmers' markets, but didn't necessarily sell their herbs at good prices.

Last year, Nyima Tsering was recommended by the local cooperative to attend training courses provided by Alibaba's live streaming arm Taobao Live in Lijiang city, Yunnan, thanks to the cooperation between the platform and the local government.

"Back then, I knew nothing about e-commerce and was a newbie in livestreaming. I had doubts about whether I could master livestreaming skills," he said. Thanks to the training courses, he finally mastered the skills and developed a unique livestream style that blends natural charm with distinctive ethnic features.

A livestream host advertises tea products in Wuzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/He Huawen)

Since his first livestream last November, his monthly sales have surpassed 1 million yuan ($137,589).

From a newbie to a capable livestream host, Nyima Tsering has sold TCM herbs in his hometown to other parts of China and helped inspire more villagers to join the livestream industry. Today, the cooperative sells over 100 kinds of products through livestreams, boosting the villagers' incomes.

"We're grateful for the training offered by the government and the livestream platform. Livestream e-commerce has opened the door to prosperity for our remote mountain village in this high-altitude region and enhanced our confidence in all-round rural revitalization," Nyima Tsering said.

At the livestream center for agricultural products in Pingnan county, southeast China's Fujian Province, livestream host Tian Xiaoyu was advertising mushroom soup products.

According to reliable records, Pingnan county has established itself as one of the largest shiitake mushroom production and export bases in southern China, with the annual yield of fresh shiitake mushrooms reaching 40,000 tonnes, and 80 percent of farming households being engaged in the edible fungus industry.

A livestream host promotes tomatoes at a livestream base in Koudian township, Yibin district, Luoyang city, east China's Henan Province. (People's Daily/Ni Rui)

Tian introduced knowledge about edible mushrooms and how to cook Fujian-style mushroom soup in livestreams after considering the customers' suggestions and feedback, winning their trust.

Inspired by her followers, Tian developed an instant mushroom soup product for those living a fast-paced lifestyle, which has become a hit.

"On e-commerce platforms, farmers, producers, suppliers, service providers, and consumers collaborate closely, forming a mechanism for integrating farmers' interests into agricultural industry chains," said Wang Zhonghai, deputy director of the Research Center for Rural Economy under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Wang explained that farmer-turned-livestream hosts can better understand consumer needs through direct interaction, allowing them to optimize product structures and improve the quality based on demand. This approach has not only connected small agricultural households with larger markets but also paved the way for new paths for increasing farmers' incomes.

A livestream host advertises agricultural products during a livestream at the seventh China-South Asia Expo in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

In recent years, livestream e-commerce has contributed to the brand building of mushroom soup products in the county.

Tian has garnered nearly 5 million followers on popular short video platform Douyin. She can sell over 600,000 packages of mushrooms in a single livestream, and she has provided job opportunities for nearly 300 villagers.

Records show that livestreams for agricultural products on Douyin help sell over 4.7 billion orders of agricultural products a year. On average, 13 million packages of local farm produce and specialties are shipped nationwide daily.

A livestream host sells local specialties during a livestream in Shifang village, Ganshui township, Qijiang district, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Chen Xingyu)

Since its inception, Taobao's rural livestream program has trained over 110,000 farmer-turned-livestream hosts, and contributed to the brand building of agricultural products through the integrated development of production, processing, and sales.