Liu Qiangdong, founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, has announced plans to build 185 drone airports in Sichuan Province in order to promote logistics services in rural areas, ithomes.com reports.

Workers prepare to attach a package onto a drone in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, June 20, 2017. Delivering goods to terminal customers through drones has been normalized by JD.com since June 18, 2017 in Xi'an. [Photo/Xinhua]

Liu has made the revelation as part of a speech at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, on December 4, 2017.

"Due to the high costs of logistics, agricultural products sell at higher prices in cities while industrial products sell at higher prices in remote rural areas," said Liu.

Liu Qiangdong said JD.com is already using a large network of drones in Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, and plans to use drones to deliver agricultural products from rural areas in Sichuan to cities across the country within 24 hours, cutting the logistics costs in rural areas by 50 to 70 percent.

This is not Liu's first move aimed at poverty alleviation. On November 28, 2017, the internet entrepreneur was inaugurated as honorary chief of Pingshitou Village in Fuping County, Hebei Province, one of the most impoverished areas in the region.

In a post on his microblog, Liu set a target to have a tenfold increase in the village's average household income within five years, with all the villagers being lifted out of poverty.

Related

• JD comes out with $2b sourcing plan
• Nestle, JD.com unveil China's 1st AI nutrition assistant

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)