Pinduoduo agriculture platform is used by more than 16 million farmers to sell their produce to 880 million consumers who shop on the platform.
Pinduoduo China’s largest agricultural e-commerce marketplace has won the 2022 FAO Innovation Award for developing a unique platform to connect smallholders with the market while improving the lives and livelihoods of millions of farmers. The award ceremony took place at FAO Headquarters in Rome on the sidelines of the 171st Session of the FAO Council.
Having started as an online fruit seller, Pinduoduo soon became the leading direct-to-consumer agriculture platform in the country and is used now by more than 16 million farmers to sell their produce to 880 million consumers who shop on the platform. In this way, smallholder farmers are able to increase their incomes and invest in their farms to make them more productive and environmentally sustainable. The consumers benefit because they are able to access a wider selection of agricultural products directly from the people who grow them and get better value for their money.
“Innovation has always been a key component of the new FAO’s vision,” said QU Dongyu FAO Director-General in his opening remarks at the ceremony. “We need science and innovation to deliver on our common goals of transforming our agrifood systems to nourish people, nurture the planet, advance equitable livelihoods and build resilient ecosystems.”
Qu highlighted that Pinduoduo’s technological innovations in the management of farming systems and emissions reduction were making significant contributions to sustainable agricultural development worldwide, and to global food security.
“This Innovation Award is an affirmation of technology as a force multiplier that can break barriers, connect people, and unleash the creative energies of a sector that is as old as civilization itself,” said Xin Yi Lim, Executive Director for Sustainability and Agricultural Impact at Pinduoduo while accepting the prize.
This year FAO launched the newly structured FAO Awards to recognize progress in the transformation of agrifood systems and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
