Food Shortages Loom in China as Farmers Face Lockdown Woes

Food Shortages Loom in China as Farmers Face Lockdown Woes
A farmer planting winter wheat with a grain drill in Bozhou in China's Anhui Province on Oct. 15, 2019. STR/AFP via Getty Images
Luo Ya
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Jilin Province in China has announced that efforts will continue to ensure that spring plowing continues despite a province-wide COVID-19 lockdown, even as online videos show police throughout China interrupting farmers at work in their fields.

Fearing that a delay in spring plowing could lead to a food shortage, analysts say the crisis runs beyond fallow fields: Getting viable seeds and fertilizers is the real farming crisis.

Lockdown Threatens Food Supply

Jilin, located in China’s corn belt, is an important processing and production region for the country’s cereals.