The city of Zibo in East China's Shandong province is said to have taken very effective measures to ensure the timely and sufficient production and supply of daily food supplies – ensuring the normal lives of its residents amid the latest COVID-19 outbreak.
It is estimated that as of March 21, its fields cultivating vegetables covered an area of 99,200 mu (just over 66 square kilometers), with an average daily production capacity of more than 7,000 tons. Meanwhile, the daily production of meat averaged 416 tons, eggs 284 tons and milk 352 tons.
City officials also reported that sales of daily necessities were unhindered.
Yu Yongxian, director of the Zibo Linzi Dongke Vegetable Professional Cooperative, said it collected and sold more than 30,000 kilograms of courgettes daily on average, along with some tomatoes and peppers.
"During the epidemic, the production and sales of vegetables has gone smoothly," Yu said.
Elsewhere, Shandong Benefit Dairy Co Ltd (Deyi Dairy) reported it was particularly busy.
In addition to ensuring the daily supply of large orders of milk, the company has rushed out large quantities of fresh milk donated to medical workers and volunteers on the front line of the fight against the outbreak.
A senior manager of the group said that since some residential areas remained closed, the company had to set up temporary milk stations to reach customers.
Meanwhile, the spring planting has also been carried out in an orderly fashion despite the epidemic, including more than 930 sq km of wheat fields that are under cultivation.
