Computer revolution for women farmers 2003-07-17 China Daily
The All-China Women's Federation yesterday launched a campaign to spread
information technology know-how among women farmers.
The areas targetted
are among some of China's poorest and least advanced. Part of the funding for
the simple but innovative scheme has come from the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Under the first phase of the campaign, 250 specially-built information
machines, costing a total of 700,000 yuan (US$84,000), will be installed in
around 10 villages in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Northeast
China's Jilin Province and Northwest China's Gansu Province.
The
information machine, a simplified version of computers, will be a source of
specialized agricultural production and marketing information accessible via a
special network which feeds directly into the homes of farmers.
"If there
had been such machines, many of our local people would not have suffered severe
economic losses," said Kang Fen, an official with the women's federation of the
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin.
Due to the negative impact
of SARS, many South Korean businessmen have cancelled their regular purchasing
tours to the prefecture.
Since these businessmen make up the only sales
channel for most of the area's local farmers, the resulting economic loss was
high.
"But with the new information machines and the rich information
brought by them, our farmers should be able to expand their sales channels and
avoid such losses in the future," said Kang.
Zhao Shaohua, an official
with the All-China Women's Federation, said the spreading of information
technology among women is essential if the country is to fulfill its ambitious
goal of creating a "digital agriculture" - one which manages the whole
agricultural procedure through information technology.
Karim Ebrahim
Al-Shakar, the ambassador of Bahrain to China, highly applauded the campaign and
pledged to further help it. |