Despite Beijing's latest outbreak, the rest of China has mostly returned to normal following the COVID-19 pandemic. As the nation's agriculture and fishing industries have suffered greatly, farmers and fisheries in northeastern China are turning to e-commerce and agri-technology to help make up for the losses.

It's harvest time at the cherry farm in China's coastal city of Dalian. For local farmers, finding buyers has never been a problem. But the situation this year is different because of months of lockdown.

"The price for cherries has dropped due to the sluggish demand. We foresaw the problem as early as April, the local government helped us in broadening the sales channel by introducing various e-commerce platforms and smoothing out logistics", said Yu Xingman, a cheery farmer from Dalian.

The coronavirus has disrupted every type of agriculture worldwide. However, agricultural technologies can help address some of the key stress points across the value chain and are expected to surge once the pandemic is over.

The answer was found via live-streaming. Once a niche sales channel, it has now proven to be a boon for rural farmers like Yu Xingman, helping to connect them to urban consumers amid disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Dalian is also proud of its seafood selection, but the demand for fresh seafood has plummeted as restaurants, hotels, and catering businesses shutter. Meanwhile, the knock-on economic effects from market disruptions have further impacted small-scale fishers' abilities to pursue their livelihoods.

Take seaweed production as an example, it is already over halfway through the harvest season. Wang Hanwei, the section chief of Lvshun agricultural and rural bureau in Dalian told CGTN that "the harvest season kick-started in April and will last until mid-July. The local economy depends heavily on seaweed production".

Seaweed growers are more vulnerable under such a situation. "Traditional production methods can no longer help seaweed growers get through these difficult times, the township has been encouraging locals to switch to seaweed processing to add more values into their produce", Wang added.

The question on everyone's mind - whether it will still be the same when people are finally allowed to walk out their front doors to go to work or take a stroll through the park. Experts say the faster the suppliers can catch up with the changes in consumer behavior, the quicker recovery will arrive.

(Cover image: Dalian, a coastal city in northeastern China's Liaoning Province. Guan Yang/ CGTN)