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Covid-19 is making it harder to grow food in China

//“The ground is still too hard,” says one. “But we’re ready to plant when the time is right.” As the weather warms, that day is imminent. It is one that they, and many government officials, have been worrying about.

//Some of China’s agricultural experts worried that massive disruptions to transport caused by virus-containment measures could affect the delivery of inputs such as fertiliser on which farmers rely (see chart).

//They also feared that quarantine controls would prevent seasonal workers from getting to farms where their labour is needed for planting.

// China’s president, Xi Jinping, and the prime minister, Li Keqiang, issued instructions on the need to “stabilise” agriculture. They called for an “all-out effort” to ensure that the epidemic did not affect the planting of vital crops.

//At stake is not only the welfare of the 40% of China’s people who live in the countryside and depend on agriculture, but the stability of the national food supply.

//In the two months since the outbreak began, China has already felt covid-19’s impact on supplies of some food.

//This follows the severe damage already done to pork supplies by an outbreak of African swine fever... Pork prices have tripled since early last year.

//In response to the leadership’s calls, local officials have been pulling out the stops to ensure planting proceeds... reducing land-use fees and directing state-owned banks to give them loans on easy terms.

Source: Economist, (14-Mar)
https://econ.st/2wspnER

#Coronavirus #Agriculture #Economy #China
HK Authorities Raze 10,000 Sq. Feet of #Agriculture To The Ground, Local Farmers Could Merely Rescue Surviving Crops

Source: InMedia #Apr17

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#Mainlandization
HK Authorities Raze 10,000 Sq. Feet of #Agriculture To The Ground, Local Farmers Could Merely Rescue Surviving Crops

On April 9, 2021, Mr. Chik, a Hong Kong farmer, was notified by the Lands Department that staff from the Civil Engineering and Development Department are “doing work” on their farmland in Tsiu Keng Pang Uk Village.

When he arrived, he found that all his crops had been razed down and the affected area was estimated to be more than 10,000 square feet.

“If there are roots, they can still grow.” Mr. Chik and the farmers who came to help search around the field for any plants that could still be grown and took them away. “We are trying to save as many as possible.”

They placed the rescued plants and wood planks on handcarts and took them to a small field outside of one of the farmer’s house for temporary storage.

“If you ask where I can move my field, I really don’t know. The whole New Territories is being resumed, all our living spaces are compromised for the sake of development, where else could we go?”

Source: In-Media HK #April17
https://bit.ly/2Qeuq5E

#FailedState #NewTerritories #LandResumption #Farmland