When Covid-19 spread rapidly in China in the first months of 2020, the country imposed many blockade measures and strict restrictions on people’s movement, affecting the agricultural supply chain.
A person goes to a supermarket in China in early 2020. Photo: FAO.
A series of measures have been implemented to address the problem.
The China Quality Agricultural Products Development and Service Association initiated an alliance with the participation of businesses such as Pinduoduo (a platform connecting farmers with distributors and customers) with guidance from the Department of Marketing.
Information and communication technology is utilized.
Another important platform is the Online Sales Platform for Agricultural Products of Poor Regions, established by the Ministry of Finance and the Poverty Alleviation Department of the State Council of China, focusing on supporting disadvantaged localities.
Locally, provincial and municipal governments also set up online platforms to support trading, such as the Beijing Agricultural Product Supply and Demand Platform.
Chinese authorities also encourage e-commerce businesses to actively participate in selling agricultural products, taking advantage of their experience and resources.
To boost sales, platforms set up special sales portals with well-designed graphics and slogans like `pay attention to farmers,` and offer coupons and discounts to
They also use livestreams and short videos like TikTok as marketing tools, in which online celebrities showcase the virtues of agricultural products.
A livestream about Wuhan tea helped them sell 0.89 million yuan ($130,000) worth of goods during the livestream and a million yuan ($140,000) afterward.
Alibaba established a fund worth one billion yuan ($141 million) to support farmers and sold 118,000 tons of backlogged agricultural products in less than 40 days.
To ensure the smooth transportation of goods, China established `green channels`, allowing vehicles carrying agricultural products to pass through inspection stations or toll stations with passes issued by provincial governments.
In January 2020, China’s State Tax Administration announced that any income from the transportation of key items during the crisis, including agricultural products, is exempt from value-added tax.
E-commerce businesses are also introducing innovations in logistics such as providing contactless delivery services by installing shelves, setting up service points in residential areas, delivering to certain locations.
To avoid the shortage of delivery personnel, the `labor sharing` model was created, mobilizing `idle` employees in other fields such as catering and retail to temporarily work for e-commerce companies.
`Hybrid stores` and `common pickup points` are deployed in some cities.
A `group buying` model was also created to simplify deliveries, save labor and minimize contact.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) assesses that there are a number of lessons to be learned from China’s handling of the matter: the need to cooperate and coordinate many stakeholders at different levels and diversify channels.
