Farmers are busy with harvesting sweet potatoes on the Liu'ao peninsular, Xiapu county, East China's Fujian province on Sept 20. [Photo/Xinhua]

Once a staple food grown to stave off hunger, sweet potatoes have now become a trendy item to purchase online.

Liu'ao, a peninsular in Xiapu county, East China’s Fujian province, is renowned for producing sweet potatoes, which have in recent years risen in popularity on the e-commerce platforms such as JD.com, Taobao and Tmall.

By virtue of its congenial climate and soil, the potatoes planted on the peninsular taste sweet, palatable and are much favored by customers nationwide.

Liu'ao has a long history of sweet potato plantation, and in the past sweet potatoes were grown by local residents just to satisfy their own hunger.

However, riding the waves of booming e-commerce, the potatoes from the island have now become a popular food online. Local authorities estimate that revenue for sweet potato sales is set to hit 25 million yuan ( $3.63 million yuan) this year.

Chen Yanxiang, a farmer from the Liu'ao peninsular, Xiapu county, East China's Fujian province, presents a sweet potato harvest on Sept 20. [Photo/Xinhua]