Pinduoduo recently announced it will invest in developing a smart logistics system suited to agriculture
Pinduoduo, China’s largest agriculture-focused technology platform, will explore deploying smart agriculture solutions developed by the winners of a competition organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to working farms, giving young agripreneurs an avenue to test their business ideas at scale.
The agricultural sector is facing the enormous challenge of feeding a projected 9.6 billion people who will inhabit the planet by 2050, which will require a 60% increase in food. The COVID-19 pandemic put the global food system through severe stress, disrupting regular logistics and sales channels at a time of surging demand for agricultural products.
FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, who served as the chairman of the judging committee for the Global Agrilnno Challenge, said the contest was timely given the importance of finding ways to improve the efficiency of agricultural production and distribution, and attracting more young people to take part in agriculture. Echoing her view, Zhejiang University Professor Wei Baolong said that digital agriculture required continuous investment, just like any other scientific field.
Pinduoduo has adopted a systems-based approach to addressing the inter-related issues of how to grow, move, and sell food. The company has trained more than 100,000 e-commerce-savvy New Farmers to help bring more farming communities aboard the digital economy. It is working with Singapore’s A*Star research agency to develop portable test kits for contaminants to safeguard food safety. Pinduoduo recently announced it will invest in developing a smart logistics system suited to agriculture that can provide next-day delivery at a low cost.
The Global Agrilnno Challenge is the second agritech project that Pinduoduo has worked on together with the FAO.
