Farms in Dangyang, central China's Hubei Province, March 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)

 
China's rural supply and marketing cooperatives have purchased a large amount of agricultural products from Hubei Province to support the country's region hardest hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, the latest data showed.

As of April 9, these cooperatives have purchased 625 million yuan (about 88.81 million US dollars) of farm products from Hubei including tea, vegetables, mushrooms and fruits, according to the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

The federation said it has provided assistance to local farmers and suppliers in Hubei including by setting up a special site on its online sales platform and launching an emergency service embedded in social messaging application WeChat to promote sales.

China's network of supply and marketing cooperatives serves as a key platform for the distribution of agricultural products in the country's rural areas.