Farmers receive smartphones to promote their grapes

Villagers in Shuangjie, located in the Beichen district of Tianjin, received smartphones from the local government to promote their grape products on micro blogs and WeChat, the popular text and voicemail messaging service.

"It is the first village in the country to popularize smartphone and micro blog marketing in every family," said Liu Chunhai, head of Shuangjie village, on Friday.

With the support of Sina Weibo, 506 villagers will participate in e-commerce technology training and launch private micro blogs to sell their grape products, which "will help enhance the brand influence and the sales revenue of Shuangjie grape", said Liu.

To ensure the quality of the grape products, the village has been for many years working on controlling soil pollution and using organic fertilizers.

The village has also established grape-related industry chains, producing wine, grape juice and healthcare and beauty products made from grapes, Liu said.

He added that the village is cooperating with Shenzhen-based SF Express, one of the country's leading couriers, to boost online-to-offline business for grape products.