Liu Yanqun had just started making profits from his mountain farm in Hunan province when Covid-19 broke out.

"I feel very heartbroken. It's very difficult for me to find another job," said Liu, watching his humble farm with about 800 pods in Hunan province collapsed.

Covid-19 is believed to have erupted from the wildlife trade in China, when the scientists identified the disease could have originated in bats and spread to another mammal.

The ban has cost tens of thousands of Chinese farmers the opportunity to get rich, as relatively inexpensive wildlife farming was once touted as a way to help people out of poverty.

Six years ago, Mr. Liu, 38, turned six rooms in his old family home deep in the midst of winding hilly roads into a mountain farm.

In May, Hunan was one of the first provinces to compensate farmers to encourage them to change their livelihoods.

However, the farmers said the compensation was not commensurate with the market value of the animals and covered only a small portion of the cost of infrastructure on their farm.

There are breeders who have fallen into trouble while waiting for the livestock to be appraised.

"We cannot kill or sell them," said Li Weiguo, 61, a cobra farmer, adding that when authorities came to collect them, many died.

"I had more than 3,000 snakes but ended up being compensated for only about 1,600," he said.

A report in state media last week said China's control of wildlife farms had affected nearly 250,000 jobs, leaving businesses unable to sell animals worth about 11 billion yuan.

With the compensation barely enough to offset the investment, the farmers said they were struggling to pay off debt and had little capital to start a new business.

"All the money invested in my facility is loans from friends and relatives. I don't have money to repay them and these days, they are constantly urging me," said Mr. Li.

Huang Guohua, another nurturer, said he owed more than 400,000 yuan ($ 58,000).

"Last year, I had a plan to expand my business, but Covid-19 made me lose money," said Huang, 47.

"I can only cry silently," Huang said.

China has set its ambitious goal of eradicating poverty and building a "prosperous society" by the end of 2020. However, the pandemic makes this goal increasingly difficult to achieve, as China's economy is in half.

Even before the outbreak of Covid-19, there were still more than 5 million people in rural China living in poverty, earning less than 2,300 yuan a year ($ 326).