A farmer in Shouguang picks vegetables for Wuhan on Jan 28, 2020. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In recent days, many vegetable growers in Shouguang, East China's Shandong province, have changed their schedules.

"We used to pick vegetables in the afternoon, but now we do it before daybreak," said Sang Xuemei, a farmer in Shouguang's Sangjiazhuang village.

The vegetable greenhouses were still dark around four o'clock on the winter morning. Sang and her husband had to wear headlamps to see.

Two hours later, they delivered the 250 kg of freshly-picked cucumbers to the village cooperative, where staff members were busy detecting pesticide residue in vegetables, sorting and packaging.

Trucks loaded with garlic donated by Jinxiang county in Jining set off from Jinxiang to Wuhan on Jan 31, 2020. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At about 8 am, boxes of high-quality cucumbers were loaded into a truck and sent to Wuhan, the city hardest hit by the epidemic in China.

The price of cucumbers has fallen considerably in recent days.

"Usually, we would just stop planting the vegetable to avoid losing money. But now it is different, we need to ensure that people in Wuhan and medical workers on the frontline have a sufficient supply of vegetables," Sang said.

 Shouguang, China's major vegetable production base, donated 350 tons of high-quality vegetables to Wuhan on Jan 28. The city continued to support Wuhan with a daily supply of 600 tons of high-quality and affordable vegetables as needed.

A truck loaded with potatoes left for Wuhan on Feb 1, 2020 from Tengzhou, Zaozhuang. [Photo by Zhang Xin for chinadaily.com.cn]

As major production bases of agricultural products in China, cities in Shandong have been donating large amounts agricultural products, mainly vegetables, to Wuhan since the outbreak began. As of Feb 3, a total of 1,141 tons of vegetables had been donated to Wuhan by Shandong cities, local authorities said.

Shandong authorities said that, at present, Shouguang has suspended vegetable shipments to Wuhan as it now has sufficient vegetable storage, adding that the city will continue to provide quality fresh vegetables as needed.