China’s Covid Strategy Jars With Food Security Goal in Northeast
- Lockdowns hinder farmers from going out to plant spring crops
- Virus curbs add to challenges including war and soaring prices
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The conflict between China’s Covid-Zero policy and pursuit of food security has come to the fore in Jilin province, with lockdowns disrupting crucial farm work in the country’s second-biggest corn growing region.
The northeastern province has been sealed off for weeks amid a surge in infections. That’s preventing farmers from going out into the fields to plant crops this spring, adding to the challenges the country faces in securing food supplies at a time when the war in Ukraine has sent prices soaring.