Short videos, livestreams become new channels for agricultural technology promotion

Liu Tianying, from the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs in Shouguang city, east China's Shandong Province, shares knowledge about pest control through livestreaming. (Farmers' Daily/Zhao Yixuan)

In recent years, short videos and livestreams on short video platforms have played a unique role in improving the efficiency of agricultural technology promotion, solving the "last mile" challenge in the application of scientific and technological advancements in farmers' fields.

Zhao Ya, head of the agricultural technology promotion station in Guandian town, Fengtai county, east China's Anhui Province, has 27 years of experience in the trade.

In 2018, Zhao registered an account on a short video platform to promote agricultural technology. To share information with more farmers, Zhao adopted a strategy of tagging short videos and posting them on multiple short video and livestream platforms, including Douyin, Kuaishou, and WeChat Channels.

Over the past years, many agricultural experts like Zhao have actively used short video platforms to explore new channels for disseminating agricultural technology.

According to reliable data, in 2023, Kuaishou had 216,000 content creators in the field of agricultural technology who held livestreams for an average of 50,000 hours per day, attracting viewers from 26,825 towns and townships. In addition, 27.78 million videos related to agricultural technology were posted on Douyin last year, garnering 120.62 billion views.

A report issued by the Rural Development Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said that content related to agricultural technology promotion on short video and livestream platforms has become a valuable complement to the traditional agricultural technology promotion system.

The Department of Science, Technology and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has also jumped on the bandwagon, with more than 5,000 short videos on its official account on Douyin garnering over 3.97 million likes.

"Short videos and livestreams help solve the challenge of timely response in terms of agricultural technology promotion," said Chen Yangfen, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute under the CASS.

Chen added that the visual and interactive nature of short videos allows farmers to access information at any time, bridging knowledge gaps while improving the efficiency of agricultural technology dissemination.

Short videos related to agricultural technology on short video platforms cover a wide range of topics, from planting and breeding to packaging, marketing, field management, smart agriculture and gardening. Agricultural experts, new-type agricultural business entities, and even agricultural media have held livestreams to share various agricultural knowledge and skills.

Since 2022, the Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School has collaborated with Douyin to launch a program to promote agricultural technology. To date, 1,840 agricultural technicians and 10 agricultural scientists have joined the program, publishing over 40,000 agricultural technology promotion videos, covering key areas of the modern agrotechnology system.

Quality agricultural technology content helps guide more farmers to use information-based approaches to acquire agricultural skills and improve their ability to apply new techniques and methods to increase production and incomes.

An executive of Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School said the school will continue introducing more high-quality professional agricultural technology content and strengthening training relevant to agricultural short videos to cultivate professional rural service personnel.

Xiao Zhengkang, a graduate of the College of Plant Protection at Hunan Agricultural University, has 10 years of experience in teaching agricultural technology, winning the trust from users of short video platforms.

Quality agricultural technology content can attract more online views and realize the value of notability. Xiao's online store features agricultural materials and books, with short videos driving sales growth. "Farmers need both practical technology and reliable products," Xiao said.

Hu Bingchuan, another researcher at the Rural Development Institute under the CASS, said that this technology-driven marketing method helps achieve sustainable development of agricultural technology promotion.

On short video and livestream platforms, some content creators focusing on agricultural technology have established a full-chain revenue mechanism from agricultural technology content to agricultural materials to capitalize on high-quality agricultural technology promotion content, Hu added.