(Yicai Global) Feb. 19 -- China's local governments are striving to get operations back up and running at firms that supply seeds, fertilizer, farm chemicals and other agricultural materials to make sure spring plowing is unaffected by the double-whammy of the Covid-19 epidemic and the extended Lunar New Year holiday.

Farmers now confront the twin issues of whether seeds, fertilizers and other such necessities can be ensured and whether agencies and other players that provide farm equipment can keep up deliveries, Li Guoxiang, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Yicai Global.

The novel coronavirus that broke out in central China in December has snarled supply chains and strict controls on people's movements have also acted like an early frost on the agricultural sector. Desert locusts on China's western doorstep in Central Asia are also of grave concern and intensify worries over food production and supplies, particularly as the country's food chain is just starting to recover from last year's African swine fever epidemic that ravaged hog herds, the nation's top source of protein.

"This year's agricultural production will face great challenges due to many negative factors," Li said. "The [Covid-19] epidemic has not been brought completely under control and whether its impacts will further expand is also uncertain.

"The agriculture sector greatly depends on seasonality and the farming season cannot be postponed," Li said. "So the country has to guarantee agricultural production while combating this disease."

The government of China's southwestern Sichuan has called on district authorities to take steps to ensure the province's food yield remains above 35 billion kilograms this year and to safeguard the supply of grains, vegetables and other vital farm produce against any breakdown.

Southeastern Jiangxi's agriculture and rural affairs department has also directed its local officials to devise advance contingency plans and well prepare means of production for agriculture to ensure the province's acreage of cereals sown stays at around 5.3 million hectares.

Hubei, the central Chinese province the epidemic has slammed the hardest, also heads up the list of provinces producing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, with its output of these making up about one-tenth of the country's total. That proportion even tops 30 percent in the case of phosphorous, and will directly affect the use of this soil enricher during spring plowing.

The resumption of swine breeding will also likely be delayed by blocked traffic as fodder cannot be trucked either in or out in many cases, according to Li.

Editor: Ben Armour