Farmers are harvesting livestreams to cultivate prosperity

It's another day at the "office" for Sister Passion Fruit, as she sits behind a desk in front of a camera in the middle of an orchard in rural Jiangxi province.

The woman from Xunwu in Jiangxi's Ganzhou is operating at the intersection of some of the most ancient and emergent human innovations - agriculture, the precursor for civilization that allowed humans to settle rather than hunt and gather, and information technology, one of our species' most recent inventions.

And this crossroads is transforming the lives of farmers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when more people began to eat at home.

Throughout history, around the world, the people who produce food have been the most likely to go hungry or, at least, live in poverty. As such, much of China's efforts to eradicate extreme poverty have focused on rural revitalization.

But livestreaming enables farmers around the country to not only reach but also actively engage with a larger audience of potential customers.

Sister Passion Fruit says she sells so much fruit during livestreams that she often has to ask buyers to wait a day or so for more to ripen.

Her streams and local government programs that support passion fruit farmers - for instance, by providing free seedlings - have lifted over 2,400 households in around 30 villages in Xunwu out of extreme poverty over the past couple of years. And it helped an additional 8,000 families living above but often close to the poverty line of about 3,000 yuan ($434) a year increase their incomes, too.

I joined another passion fruit farmer in a nearby village for a livestream from his orchard.

He says his income has surged from several hundred yuan to up to 20,000 a month since he began engaging in e-commerce and livestreaming.

I later visited a 5G-livestreaming center the village government opened in 2017 that provides training, logistical support and studios for about 380 livestreaming farmers.

Slogans printed on the compound's gate read: "Let smartphones become the new farm tools", "Let livestreams become the new farm work", and "The internet reaches everywhere under heaven".

Indeed, apps and internet connections are becoming just as important to food producers as ploughs and shovels.

But it's not just farmers who are benefitting from their livestreams.

Young, educated people are returning to their hometowns to start businesses enabled by the trend.

One man I spoke with came back to his village in Xunwu after earning a university degree in Guangdong province to found an enterprise selling passion fruit online. His company shipped over 3,000 tons last year, he says.

Some livestreaming farmers, such as two brothers known as Huanong Xiongdi, or "Chinese farmer brothers", have become national celebrities.

The siblings became famous for raising bamboo rats in Ganzhou before trade in these rodents became illegal following the COVID-19 outbreak. They have nearly 5.9 million followers on the videosharing platform Bilibili alone.

Although they no longer sell bamboo rats, they still draw fans with streams showing rural lifestyles, local scenery and specialty foods. They fish and barbecue ducks by the riverside in their latest clips.

Indeed, what's happening in Ganzhou is a microcosm of what's happening throughout China's countryside.

Farmers aren't only raising crops but also cultivating new markets through emerging technologies, transforming not only their images as poor and overworked but also their lives.

That is, as the bits and bytes they stream translate into bits and bites enjoyed by the customers who buy the produce they market online.

I bought some passion fruit I saw on a Taobao livestream before I returned to Beijing. And, after they're gone, I'll likely watch another stream and order more.