北欧绿色邮报网报道（主编陈雪霏）据人民日报记者 杜一菲报道：山东省博兴县有个著名的淘宝村。
作为有名的“淘宝村”，山东省博兴县锦秋街道湾头村的传统老手艺草柳编工艺品卖得红火，2016年网上销售额达到3亿元；四川南充市西充县凤鸣镇双龙桥村将乡村旅游与电子商务融合，让民宿走上“星级服务”，网络订单纷至沓来，还有不少外国游客光顾……
“淘宝村”是指活跃网店数量达到当地家庭户数10%以上、电子商务年交易额达到1000万元以上的村庄。“淘宝村”现象是电子商务促进中国农村经济发展和农民增收的一大标志。中国农业部预计，2016年中国农产品网络零售交易总额可达2200亿元，同比增长46%。阿里研究院最近发布的报告显示，中国“淘宝村”数量达到1311个，并创造了超过84万个就业岗位。
有专家表示，随着互联网的普及和农村物流网络的完善，制约农村物流的信息不畅、物流基础薄弱等瓶颈一定程度上得到缓解，中西部特别是偏远地区的发展潜力被更好地挖掘，消费需求得到有效释放。
基础设施落后、收入低、缺乏竞争优势等因素一直以来是困扰农村发展、造成劳动力外流的重要原因。农村电商对农村市场环境优化、产业结构升级、富余劳动力转移具有巨大促进作用。数据显示，致富项目让返乡人越来越多，农村电商的发展使外出人口减少约1200万人。
政策和市场是驱动农村电商发展的双轮。2017年中央一号文件聚焦农业供给侧结构性改革，其中明确提出要推进农村电商发展。另一方面，电商企业和传统企业纷纷涉足农村电商。不久前，四川省与阿里巴巴集团、蚂蚁金服集团签署战略合作协议。阿里巴巴集团董事局主席马云表示：“发展农村电商，我希望阿里在四川为县委书记、县长们做一次农村电商及村淘的培训。县委书记、县长的理念提升了，农村电商的成功率将大幅提升。”目前，阿里巴巴农村淘宝已经覆盖全国23000多个村。
在山东省博兴县锦秋街道湾头村，几名农民正在编织传统草柳编家居用品。墙上贴有“欢迎加入农村淘宝”的宣传条幅。图片来源：博兴县综合门户网站
Chinese ‘Taobao villages’ create more than 840,000 job opportunities
By Du Yifei from People’s Daily
Thanks to the rapid development of China’s e-commerce industry, over 1,000 “Taobao villages” across the country are turning poor communities into huge online retail hubs, creating more than 840,000 job opportunities.
These villages are so-named because at least 10 percent of the population living in these rural communities makes its living by selling products online—mostly on Taobao.com, the Alibaba-owned consumer-to-consumer marketplace. The e-commerce annual turnover of each village is no less than 10 million yuan.
By selling crafts online from their hometown of Wantou Village, Boxing county in east China’s Shandong Province, villagers made online sales of over 300 million yuan ($43.5 million) last year.
Similarly, villagers of the Shuanglongqiao Village in Nanchong, southwest China’s Sichuan province, have allured flocks of tourists, including foreigners, to stay and experience the star-level accommodation at their houses, via e-commerce platforms.
These villages offer a glimpse into how e-commerce industry spurs the rural economic growth and the farmers’ benefits.
Online retail sales of China’s farm produce are estimated at 220 billion yuan ($32 billion) in 2016, up over 46 percent over the previous year, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
The latest figures from Aliresearch showed that there were 1,311 Taobao villages across China, and over 840,000 jobs were created by the clusters.
Experts said that popularity of Internet and improvement of rural infrastructure have to some extent removed the bottlenecks restraining their information communication and logistics. The market potential and demands of the central and western part of China, especially those remote areas, was leveraged as a result.
They added that rural areas have been constrained by labor outflow, poor infrastructure, low incomes and lack of competitive advantages, while an e-commerce development will help optimize market environment, upgrade industrial structure and absorb more labors.
The profitability of e-commerce has attracted a rising number of rural residents to return home, according to statistics. Thanks to the development of e-commerce, about 12 million people left for brighter futures have come back to build up the local economy.
The development of e-commerce, as experts believe, can be attributed to favorable policies and the rising market demand.
The recently-released first policy statement from the central authorities for 2017, usually an indicator of policy priorities, emphasized the importance of supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector, urging the development of e-commerce industry in rural areas.
At the same time, e-commerce and traditional businesses have cast their eyes to the rural areas. So far, Alilbaba has expanded its services to over 23,000 villages nationwide.
Days earlier, a strategic cooperation agreement to boost rural e-commerce was inked by Sichuan province, Alibaba Group and Ant Financial Services Group, the mobile payment affiliate of Alibaba.
Alibaba CEO Jack Ma said that his company hopes to offer a training on e-commerce and Taobao villages to those county officials of the province, explaining that their rising awareness to develop e-commerce will guarantee the business success of the province.
Pic:
Villagers of Wantou Village, Boxing county in east China’s Shandong Province make crafts. The banner on the wall reads “Welcome to join Taobao”. (Photo by official website of Boxing county)