Communities rally to support strawberry growers hit by COVID-19 logistics issues
Strawberries in Baihe Town
The current wave of COVID-19 outbreak has caused some industries to hit a roadblock, but it has also yielded many heartening stories.
In Baihe Town of Qingpu District, known as "China's strawberry hometown" for its sweet and succulent fruit, farmers have been increasing worried as the pandemic led to a sudden chill in strawberry sales.
"I was looking for a juicy harvest and reward for a year of hard work, but sales encountered a sudden winter chill due to logistics difficulties," said Chen Erfei, a local strawberry farmer.
Since March, strawberries in the town have ripened quickly and reached a production peak. The daily yield of the fruit hit about 50,000 kilograms, and farmers were busy picking and packaging strawberries.
But the busy scenes of strawberry buying they experienced in previous years disappeared suddenly and unexpectedly.
Because of the short storage period of the fruit and farmers' limited refrigeration capacity, they became very anxious.
About 10,000 kilograms of strawberries were left unsold daily in the town.
"In the past, no matter how many strawberries we yielded, we sold them all," said Chen. "It was a heavy blow."
A farmer in Baihe packages strawberries, which encountered sluggish sales due to the pandemic.
An avalanche of short messages from farmers seeking help were forwarded to Jin Jian, director of the Baihe Town Agricultural and Rural Service Center.
Agricultural cooperatives could not deliver their fruit to other areas due to the pandemic, said Jin. Moreover, out-of-town businesses could not be reached to pick up their orders and tourists who had fun picking local products disappeared.
A solution was worked out quickly by Jin and her colleagues.
Via governments' WeChat accounts, enterprises and residents were called on to make group purchases, and authorities also contacted e-commerce platforms to help sell the strawberries.
The call was actively responded to, with many enterprises joining the purchase group to tackle the storage problems and ease the worries of farmers.
Zhou Yu, a local farmer, said she did not sleep well for two days due to the sluggish sales.
"But now, I am too busy to have a rest because the orders keep flowing in thanks to these combined efforts," she said.
"Some firms contacted us, and many residents delivered a helping hand as well," said Zhou.
"A strawberry is like the loving heart of all those helping us, and I feel warm thanks to these kind-hearted people," Zhou added. "I am grateful to them."
Strawberries ready for picking in Baihe
The COVID-19 outbreak has also called a halt to the city's tourism industry, and some of its member decided against taking a break to join volunteer groups.
On March 12, the second day of lockdown of Shenghua Jingyuan residential complex in Xuhui District, Zou Haowei, a Trip.com tour guide, applied to be a volunteer in the community.
The residential complex has more than 8,000 households, and there was a shortage of volunteers to help medical workers collect nucleic acid test samples after lockdown.
Zou applied immediately when he heard the news.
"If all people are scared, who will do the work?" he said.
His protective clothing became soaked with sweat, but all his fatigue faded away when a resident gave a thumbs-up to his work.
"Thank you for your hard work, you are the best," the resident said.
Zou's family, including his wife and parents, all joined in the volunteer work, becoming responsible for patrols and informing residents.
Zou Haowei (first left, top row) with other volunteers at his community
COVID-19 preventive and control items to be delivered by Shanghai Charity Foundation
On March 13, a photo showing a medical worker getting down on one knee to do a nucleic acid test for a disabled resident circulated online widely.
The photo was shot by a volunteer in Huajing Town of Xuhui District.
Liu Hua, the nurse shown in the photo, has been working day and night these days in a race against time.
"My family worried about me but they were very supportive, and I hope I will be the pride of my two children," said Liu.
Shanghai Charity Foundation and its sub-branches have donated funds and items worth 11.61 million yuan to assist in the epidemic control and prevention efforts.
These include 100,000 items of preventive clothing and 100,000 N95 masks, among others.
The first batch of pandemic control and prevention emergency items have been delivered to the Pudong New Area and Xuhui District, with the rest on the way.
Nurse Liu Hua in Xuhui District gets down on one knee to do a nucleic acid test for a disabled resident.
COVID-19 preventive and control items to be delivered by Shanghai Charity Foundation
