Surfing the Internet at dusk has become a daily routine for Luo Mingjun, a
52-year-old farmer in southwest China's Sichuan Province, though he is still
clumsy with the mouse.
He is part of the vanguard of rural residents with access to the Internet.
Arming farmers with science and technology is considered essential to the
nation's campaign to build a new socialist countryside.
Thanks to the Internet, farmer Luo got a good bargain selling oranges through
the Internet in November.
The number of farmers on the Internet, like Luo, is growing, though still
tiny.
In relatively rich villages along the coast, farmers have been seeking
agricultural technologies and market information via the Internet. But computers
and the Internet are still novelties for most of China's 900 million farmers.
The central government plans to step up construction of a rural information
network. It plans to provide telephone access for every village and Internet
access for every town over the next five years.
Luo Mingjun, the owner of an orange orchard of two hectares, got a Pentium
III computer as a prize from the Pengshan County government to encourage growing
oranges.
Last year, while surfing the Internet, Luo spotted strong national market
demand for oranges. He spread the word and farmers then consolidated their
position, successfully raising the wholesale price from US$0.07 cents per
kilogram to 15 cents.
"We made a good deal thanks to information on the Internet," Luo said.
He said some grateful villagers were considering buying computers.
"We offer farmers computers in the hope that they can enjoy and benefit from
information technology. They act as bellwethers and others will follow suit,"
said Li Wanwen, director of the bureau of science and technology in Pengshan.
The county has set up a Website, www.pengshan.net, to market produce and its
oranges have become popular.
However, Li said some remote villages don't even have access to telephones.
In Kaixian County of Chongqing Municipality, farmers receive short messages on
agricultural technology and information on their mobile phones from the local
government.
However, among the 111 million netizens in China, only a tiny percentage are
farmers.
In Pengshan County, 9,200 computers are connected to the Internet, but only
156 belong to farmers.