Pinduoduo is tread up its enquiry and development ( R&D ) spending as it adorn in science and technology to make farming more environmentally sustainable .

R&D spending rose 34 % in the third quartern from a yr earlier to 2.4 billion kwai ( $ 376.0 million ) , the high level since IPO , according to the company ’s quarterly results announcement .

“ We are placing more focus on investing in R&D , forth from the former emphasis on sales and marketing in our first five age , ” said Chen Lei , Pinduoduo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer . “ We want to leverage our potency in technology to intensify our digital inclusion travail in agriculture . ”

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Pinduoduo has been deeply rooted in farming since its establishment in 2015 . The society has become the largest agribusiness platform in China , connecting 16 million farmers to its 867.3 million consumers . Even so , there is still “ much more ” for the company to do in agriculture , particularly with technology , said Chen . “ Therefore , we plan to deepen our investment funds in technical school - enabled agricultural solutions , to address critical needs in this sphere , ” he state .

Pinduoduo ’s step-up in R&D spending total as engineering takes on an increasingly authoritative role in upgrading productiveness and efficiency in the agriculture sector . Globally , land is undergoing a wave of transformative change as engineering automates insistent and labor - intensive chore . applied science is also better the precision of the growing procedure , disregard excessive use of fertilizer and other inputs that can harm the surroundings .

One area that Pinduoduo has look supporting solution in is logistics . Since investing in build out a more reactive , affordable , and sustainable logistical scheme , the company has seen a simplification in delivery times and food waste and loss . This was achieved through technology solutions like route planning , advanced analytics , and cold - string optimisation , Chen said .

Another area is preciseness farming . Pinduoduo started an annual Smart Agriculture Competition with the aim of demonstrating the confident impact that precision husbandry techniques can have on farm output signal and environmental sustainability . player in this twelvemonth ’s rivalry have to assume a multidisciplinary approach and apply victuals science , precision agriculture , and other gardening engineering to produce tomatoes . Pinduoduo is also making efforts in talent development in the agriculture sector . To enable farmer to deal and grow well , the company is training more grower on how to pass tocopherol - commerce businesses , as well as encouraging young natural endowment to consider a calling in agriculture .