Livestreaming helps boost villagers' income in north China's Shanxi
2021-07-11 17:54:00

Wei Meiling livestreams with a smartphone as a villager weeds in fields in Yanjing Village of Licheng County, north China's Shanxi Province, July 8, 2021. Deep in the Taihang Mountain, Wei Meiling is on her way to millet fields with her smartphone, a stabilizer and a tripod, all for her livestreaming preparation. Wei is a 41-year-old woman living in Langshuyuan Village, a village with a long history of growing millet. In her childhood, Wei used to follow her family members, shuttling from home to the fields and toiled long hours doing farmwork. In 2015, in order to promote local modern agriculture, Wei Meiling returned to hometown and started her career as a new farmer. Based on local conditions, she initiated a cooperative of millet from scratch. After a few years, the planting area of millet has exceeded 2,000 mu (about 133 hectares) with farmers from over 500 households in Pingshun County and neighboring Licheng County engaged. In the past two years, Wei noticed that e-commerce has gone viral and tried livestreaming villagers' farmwork. "In the past, villagers toiled up in the fields out of proportion to their gains. The livestreaming makes it possible for customers to have a clear view from millet growing to processing. The transparency boosts sales volume and makes our products a sellout," Wei said. Now that the sales have been expanded, Wei focuses more on quality control, and hopefully helps to boost more villagers' income. (Xinhua/Zhan Yan)

Source: Xinhua Editor: Hiram