Online financial services benefit farmers in NW China

Wu Juxiang of Jinning county, in Gansu shows the new farmer-oriented mobile phone app. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

Gansu province has announced the start of a site that uses the Internet to provide convenient financial and marketing services for farmers.

At least 300 villages in Jinning county already signed up for the site, developed by the Agriculture Bank of China's Gansu branch, this year.

The online service can deal with more than 20 types of business, including deposits and withdrawals, sales and purchases of agricultural products and agricultural technology and can function as an online bank, e-commerce site, rural finance tutor and loan source for farmers.

Wu Juxiang purchases goods from the site for farmers at a self-service terminal. [Photo/xinhuanet.com]

And farmers can gain access to the site with a mobile phone app, a service terminal, or an online website.

It makes general use of Internet technology and follows China's new "Internet Plus" plan that the president spoke of earlier this year, whose purpose is to connect the Internet to traditional sectors such as agriculture, finance, manufacturing and logistics.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw