The COVID-19 Pandemic Leads to Demand Increasing for Organic Food in China

The spreading of the coronavirus has raised the public awareness of nutritional food, which can be used to increase their immunity. More and more consumers are caring about the value of organic food, and many studies also back up the idea confirming the health benefits of organic food. People in some countries have reported making healthier eating choices during the coronavirus crisis. Also, new research found that people facing stay-at-home orderers tried cooking new healthy things and consuming less fast food. 

In China, both organic agriculture and ecological agriculture are facing the problem of obtaining and using safe ecological seeds. The seeds cultivated for organic and ecological conditions are hard to guarantee. With the support of Oxfam Hong Kong, the Farmers’ Seed Network has launched a pilot project of ecological breeding, knowledge sharing, and policy improvement to promote the green transformation of agriculture and build a sustainable food system. 

Based on this background, the Launching Workshop was held on Harvesting farm, Sunyi, Beijing on August 22nd. 2020. This kick-off workshop aimed to:

1) Clarify the objective and strategy of participatory ecological breeding, and establish the mechanism for technology and knowledge sharing;

2) Organize technical training on agroecosystem and eco-agriculture, and establish a standardized monitoring system;

3) Introduce the good practices of pilot farm, and identify the key restricts.

The workshop also invited experts in the field of eco-agriculture and agrobiodiversity to provide conceptual and technical training for the project partners. Before that, the Farmers’ Seed Network had successfully completed 10 projects supported by OXFAM Hong Kong since 2015. The projects cover the theory of smallholder farmers' seed protection and utilization, the practices of participatory security system and plant breeding, suggestions on policies and regulations, and the establishment of national and international sharing and exchange networks. The projects’ implementation has led to remarkable achievements in terms of theory, methodologies and good practices, policy suggestions, knowledge sharing, and regional cooperation. All these good practices will be very useful for promoting the ecological seeds used for organic farmers, expanding the market for organic agriculture and organic products, developing the linkages between smallholder farmers with the market, and integrating traditional seed protection with national agricultural policies and planning. All these could be a good starting point for further increasing the public awareness for organic foods, and find a good solution for the human being facing the challenge from coronavirus. 

Author Information:

Bai Keyu: Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Beijing office, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

Zhang Zongwen: Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Beijing office Institute of Crop Sciences Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

Li Guanqi: Farmers’ Seed Network, Nanning, 530007 

For more information, please contact Keyu Bai (k.bai@cgiar.org)