"In the past, we had to rely on 'transportation by yaks and horses' to deliver supplies to agricultural and pastoral areas. Now, villagers can buy high-quality and affordable goods at supply and marketing cooperative outlets without leaving their villages. Previously, we could only sell our local agricultural and specialty products through the supply and marketing cooperative, but now we can directly 'live-stream and sell goods' right at our doorsteps. In the past, we had to use food coupons, meat coupons, and other vouchers to exchange for items. Now, these coupons have become relics of the past, and we can easily place orders by scanning codes with our mobile phones..." Yulha, a retiree from the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative in Nagqu City, recounted with emotion the various transformations that have breathed new life into the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative as she counted them off on her fingers.

The supply and marketing cooperative, a term etched with the imprint of the times, carries the memories of several generations. Recently, reporters visited the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative in Nagqu City and truly felt the "metamorphosis" in the production and living conditions of agricultural and pastoral areas in northern Xizang.

Imprint of the times: From "mobile supply on horseback" to obscurity

The Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative was first established in 1965 and once set up six grassroots supply and marketing cooperatives, covering 85% of the administrative villages in the county. 

After its establishment, the "Mobile Supply Team on Horseback" came into being. Relying on manpower and transportation by yaks and horses, the staff extended their services to every corner of the county. They delivered daily necessities such as brick tea, salt, grain, and cloth to remote agricultural and pastoral areas while purchasing local specialties like yak and sheep wool, highland barley, and cordyceps sinensis. 

In the 1980s, with the vigorous development of the market economy, the supply and marketing cooperative gradually found it difficult to meet the growing demands of farmers and herdsmen and began to decline. 

In 1982, the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative attempted a "dual-track system" reform by establishing the Sog County Trading Company, which combined planned supply with market operations. In the 1990s, the trading company completely took over the operations of the supply and marketing cooperative. However, due to outdated institutional mechanisms that struggled to adapt to market demands, coupled with the accelerated process of urban-rural integration, the Sog County Trading Company suspended its physical operations in 2015. 

This journey spanning several decades outlines the glory and hardships of the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative under specific historical conditions. It was once an indispensable "lifeline" of northern Xizang, ensuring people's livelihoods during times of material scarcity. However, as society continued to develop, the drawbacks of the traditional model gradually emerged, ultimately causing it to fade away in the tide of the market economy.

Rebirth from the cocoon: New models bridge the "last mile" of service

In April 2022, the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative made a strong comeback with new ideas. 

Leveraging the site advantages of the Sog County Supply and Marketing E-commerce Service Center, it created a multi-business integration model combining supermarkets, express delivery, and live-stream selling. Through an online-offline platform of "supply and marketing + e-commerce + express delivery," it improved service quality and economic efficiency, driving rural economic development.

In 2023, Sog County successively established 10 township (town) grassroots cooperatives and 46 supply and marketing e-commerce service outlets, completely bridging the "last mile" of service for the people. 

The development of e-commerce in Sog County once faced logistical bottlenecks. Covering an area of approximately 5,800 square kilometers with an average altitude of 4,100 meters, Sog County's vast territory, high altitude, and scattered villages resulted in high logistics costs and poor timeliness. 

Dondan, a staff member at the Garmo Town Grassroots Supply and Marketing Cooperative, had a deep understanding of this. After receiving e-commerce training organized by the county and mastering certain e-commerce operation knowledge and skills, Dondan began selling local agricultural specialties such as Tibetan incense, Tibetan chili peppers, tsampa, and fritillaria through live-stream selling. 

"But each time I had to send the goods to the express delivery point in the county seat, which was more than 200 kilometers away. The high transportation costs and slow delivery affected sales," Dondan said. At the end of 2023, the supply and marketing cooperative established township express delivery service points, enabling direct delivery. "Goods can now be shipped within two days, and sales have significantly increased," Dondan introduced. The online sales of agricultural specialties in the township jumped from 20,000 yuan in 2023 to nearly 70,000 yuan in 2024. What was once an unreachable "internet cable" has now become a "road to prosperity" right at people's doorsteps. The breakthrough in logistical bottlenecks has allowed specialty products fromnorthern Xizang to traverse mountains and rivers and reach a vast market.

Service upgrades: A new link for rural revitalization connecting urban and rural areas

Nowadays, the coverage rate of township express delivery service points in Sog County has reached 90%, greatly promoting the development of the local e-commerce industry. The county's e-commerce sales of agricultural products increased by 40% year-on-year, reaching 600,000 yuan. More and more local specialties are being sold across the country through e-commerce, driving income growth for farmers and herdsmen.

Express delivery stations are an extension of the services provided by the supply and marketing cooperative. Chogyal Phuntsog, director of the Sog Cunty Supply and Marketing Cooperative, introduced that previously, express delivery services in the county were fragmented and lacked unified management, resulting in low delivery efficiency, poor service quality, and inconvenience for the public in picking up parcels. 

To address this, the supply and marketing cooperative built a 300-square-meter express delivery station in the county seat and concentrated all private express delivery companies there, facilitating parcel sending and picking up for local residents. 

Now, the average parcel pickup time for residents has been shortened from three days to one day, and the satisfaction rate with express delivery services has increased from 60% to 100%. 

"Wherever there is a demand from the people, the services of the supply and marketing cooperative will follow." To promote cost-saving and efficiency-increasing in agriculture and increase income, the Garmai Town Grassroots Supply and Marketing Cooperative in Sog County played its role as a service provider for farmers by signing land trust agreements covering more than 0.2 km² with farmers from three villages (residential areas), providing full-process services from planting to harvesting. 

Dondrup Dorje, Party secretary of Garmai Town, said, "the services of the supply and marketing cooperative closely follow the needs. Through the land trust model, it has solved the problems of extensive and inefficient small-scale farming in the township and alleviated the dilemma of 'unable to farm,' 'poor farming,' and 'no one to farm' caused by the aging agricultural labor force, driving the development of the village collective economy."

In addition, the Sog County Supply and Marketing Cooperative also actively participated in various trade fairs, as well as local agricultural specialty product promotion activities, promoting local high-quality agricultural specialties to the national market and achieving cumulative sales of over 600,000 yuan.

From the northern Xizang to the vast grasslands, supply and marketing cooperatives are taking root in agricultural and pastoral areas with a new look.

Reporter: Wan Jing

Translator: Zhi Xinghua

Review: Phurbu Tsering, Drakpa Wangchen