BEIJING — China has been promoting poverty alleviation through e-commerce and production-marketing integration, the Ministry of Commerce said on March 19.

Amid the fight against COVID-19, many rural areas have reported difficulties in selling agricultural products due to declining demand and poor logistics, bringing new challenges to the timely completion of the goal of poverty alleviation, said Zhu Xiaoliang, an official with the MOC, at an online press conference.

The MOC has listed the task to help farmers sell agricultural products, especially in poor areas, as a priority this year, Zhu said.

The MOC has been boosting precise connection between online and offline sales, organizing enterprises and associations to set up online platforms for collecting and releasing information, and promoting the sales of agricultural products through poverty alleviation channels, Zhu said.

Meanwhile, about 96.4 percent of farm produce markets nationwide have resumed operation, with the sales of meat and vegetables up more than 50 percent over the beginning of February, Zhu said.

China has targeted eradicating absolute poverty in 2020. By the end of last year, there were still over 5.5 million people living under the poverty line across the country.