Impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture and rural poverty in China

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has spread rapidly across the world. The pandemic has been seriously affecting public health and national and global economies since the beginning of 2020. By 3 November 2020, the world's cumulative reported infections exceeded 46 million and the number of deaths reached 1.2 million (WHO 2020). The rapid spread of COVID-19 and its induced pandemic control through territory lockdown, travel bans and many other restrictions imposed on people's movements have seriously affected the economy of all countries across the world. Worldwide, the pandemic has significantly affected food systems, particularly agricultural inputs and outputs markets, food processing and employment along food value chains, which has exacerbated poverty and food and nutrition insecurity. The latest FAO report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World estimates that the COVID-19 pandemic could add 130 million people worldwide suffering from chronic hunger in 2020 (FAO et al. 2020). The pandemic is still serious and even worsening in some countries while it is currently under control in other countries.