Economy and Business

New website allows produce to be ordered online

By Chen Qide (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-12-28 14:39

A website allowing people to order farm produce online was established in Shanghai on December 27 to help provide farmers with better access to markets.

"It has been a problem for farmers to sell their products timely into markets due to lack of an efficient information channel," said Zhan Jinchuan, the general manager of the website, which is run by the Shanghai Agriculture Information Company (SAIC).

Zhan said the website will provide a platform for consumers to order quality farm produce from more than 300 farms across the country. The company currently receives an average of 100 orders of farm produce daily, valued at a total of about 50,000 yuan through the website.

"The extensive co-operation with farms will make thousands of quality native products available to the residents in Shanghai," she said at the first summit forum for agricultural e-business and logistics, which closed on Sunday.

The forum was held by Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai Maritime University and SAIC. More than 200 representatives from government departments, universities, research institutions, enterprises, and farms attended to discuss ways to expand e-business for farm produce.

Yin Ou, deputy director of the Shanghai Agriculture Committee, said the challenges in getting produce to markets have become an important factor in slowing the development of agricultural and rural areas.

"If it is not solved, it will become one of factors to influence the rural stability," he said.

The new website was launched at the forum after SAIC and East China Agriculture signed a new cooperation agreement.

"This way, we can import the region's quality farm produce to serve local residents by using information from the website," said Zhan.