Alibaba, Pinduoduo fight against China’s looming food crisis


Customers wearing protective masks shop for fruits at a wet market in Shanghai, China. At a time when Chinese leaders are clamping down on monopolies in areas from fintech to e-commerce, smart agriculture is one sphere where China’s tech giants’ commercial interests are aligned with the national agenda. — Bloomberg

The battle to supply 1.4 billion people with fresh fruit and vegetables is taking China’s e-commerce companies into the country’s hinterlands, where they are attempting to revolutionise centuries-old agricultural practices to secure future supply for their burgeoning online grocery businesses.

Xi Jinping’s government has long made self-sufficiency in food a “top state issue” as it seeks to avert a looming food crisis. The need to modernise China’s 200 million largely small-scale farms took on added urgency during the pandemic, when output and logistics disruptions coincided with homebound shoppers turning to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and other Internet retailers for their produce.

Subscribe now and receive FREE sooka plan for 1 month.
T&C applies.

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space
This humanoid robot can now operate with full autonomy
Scientists use AI to help track penguins in Antarctica
Windows 10 users will soon have to pay to keep getting security updates
Musk and X are epicenter of US election misinformation, experts say
OpenAI in talks with California to become for-profit company, Bloomberg News reports
Meta to extend ban on new political ads after U.S. election
Crypto firms including Robinhood, Kraken launch global stablecoin network
Chipmaker NXP forecasts quarterly revenue below estimates on macroeconomic concerns
Exclusive-Silver Lake, Bain prepare to bid for multi-billion stake in Intel's Altera unit, sources say

Others Also Read