Photo: Li Hao/GT

Other than an airplane flying at a low altitude, visitors in Northeast Beijing's Shunyi suburb, where the Beijing Capital International Airport is located, can see vast farmland and fruit trees at the foot of a mountain. 

The district is a vital agriculture base in China's capital city. 

In addition to supplies from other vegetable and fruit regions, Beijing's grass-roots rural cooperatives have provided fresh produce during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, especially for returnees under home isolation who have been undersupplied. 

Other than an obligation to safeguard food safety and supply, farmers in the Beijing suburb are aware that COVID-19 has not been completely wiped out and continue to wear face masks and avoid gathering with others at work.  

After speaking with farmers in Shunyi, where spring ploughing is underway, it was obvious that a strong harvest was expected. 

Farmland to community 

A rural cooperative in China is a people-initiated and non-profit organization run by  member villagers and farmers to realize their economic needs. Through unified management and action, the organization can reduce labor costs and promote sales.

Zhang Yali, the head of Qiaosao, a rural cooperative based in the Shunyi district, said the organization began delivering produce in January, five days after Wuhan issued a city-wide lockdown. 

"Community workers from Konggang district contacted me and asked if our cooperative could deliver food to them as their local markets were closed due to the epidemic and some express delivery are postponed as well," Zhang said.

Although some communities are not threatened by running out of food, the cooperative's delivery service expanded to 26 communities as people returned to Beijing and were placed under home isolation, and their daily needs soared. 

"Many communities told me they are under pressure from returnees who have been required to undergo home isolation. If they cannot get food, they will violate the isolation rules and go outside," Zhang said. 

Zhang told the Global Times that after placing an order online or over the telephone, a delivery driver with an entry permit will go to each community and place their orders at the doors for those in isolation. Shengli community offered the farmers a temporary warehouse to help sort their produce.

To ease community workloads, and to have people under home isolation to receive better service, the farmers reduced prices by 16 percent and offered free delivery for all orders over 30 yuan ($4.20).

"We want more people to follow the home isolation rules and to stay inside and not go out shopping when the supervision of home isolation is relatively low," Zhang said and added "our workload is always huge as there will always be more returnees."

Avoid unsalable products

For April, everything appears normal except the masks on people's faces. Shunyi farmers work in the fields to prepare for the next harvest. It was only two months ago when farmers were struggling to sell their produce due to the epidemic. 

"[During the epidemic in the last two months,] there were traffic and travel restrictions, which disallowed farmers to do farm works; on the other hand, farmers were also worried that their fruits, eggs and vegetables in the stock would be unsalable," said one co-op member surnamed Xie, to the Global Times on Thursday. 

According to Xie, the cooperative opened online stores on e-commerce platforms like Taobao and Weidian. The cooperative will purchase fruits and vegetables from farmers and sell them to communities in Shunyi, especially to those under home isolation. 

"We send vehicles carrying with goods to the community twice a day— every morning and afternoon, and sometimes we work overtime in the evening if someone said he is in urgent need."

Although local agricultural production has hardly been affected by the epidemic, the connection between farms and urban communities is not as smooth as imagined. As the outbreak wanes, local farmers face competition from Shandong Province, China's "vegetable warehouse," as their scale and influence remain limited.

"To enhance confidence and avoid unsalable products, we would rather have a lower price," Zhang explained their 3-16 percent cheaper strategy, explaining the village cooperative will offer farmers bonuses. 

"We hardly make money because agriculture profits are less than 20 percent. We do this mainly to contribute to the country and provide stable income for our farmers," said Zhang, noting that sometimes they sell their goods at lower prices compared to the prices when they buy from farmers.

"We want to strengthen our online presence first and reduce unsalable produce, which would distract farmers during spring plowing. Plus, they are not good at e-commerce," said Zhang, "For example, we might lose money selling apples, but that can be recovered by selling other produce." 

According to Zhang, Shunyi is home to over 400 village cooperatives, and about 30 have similar capacities.  

Spring plowing unaffected

A Global Times reporter learned that spring ploughing and other work were hardly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in terms of cost and output.

"Planting costs did not increase because fertilizers and pesticides were prepared ahead of schedule. What really increase are the cost of point-to-point delivery and the wages during an outbreak," Zhang said.

According to Beijing Youth Daily, the Beijing agriculture regulator said during the spring ploughing period this year, the total demand for seeds was expected to reach 1.2 million kgs, and 2.2 million kgs have been stored. The total demand for fertilizer is about 27,100 tons, and 39,600 tons are in storage. 

Regarding output, one farmer said the lost time caused by the outbreak could be made up.

"We are on schedule as most things were pre-arranged," said a vegetable farmer. "For instance, if we missed the period to plant tomatoes, then we'll plant green vegetables. And we are able to buy sprouts now that transportation has resumed."

The Beijing agriculture regulator reported there were at least 48,000 mu (3, 200 hectare) dedicated to vegetables and can produce over 30 varieties daily which can supply the market with 1,700-2,100 tons. 

China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday other than fruits and vegetables, China has adequate cereal grains, and there is no need for consumers to worry about food shortages and sharply rising prices. The overall grain production for 2020 is good, and the annual grain harvest is of high probability.

Zhang said the cooperative maintains supplies for at least six vegetable varieties, including cucumber, leek, and celery. At present, farmers have planted up to 18 different types of vegetables this spring and the seedlings have already emerged. 

"Our vegetables will be on the market next month and some apple trees are about to blossom. I am excited about everything during the spring plowing, which brings everyone happiness."