Assessing impacts of COVID-19 and their responses among smallholder farmers in Brazil, Madagascar and Tanzania.
Katharina Löhr, Paschal Mugabe, Ana Paula Dias Turetta, Jonathan Steinke, Camilo Lozano, Michelle Bonatti, Luca Eufemia, Larissa Hery Ito, Alexandra Konzack, Stefan Kroll, Charles Peter Mgeni, Dina Ramanank' Andrasana, Sophia Tadesse, Masoud Yazdanpanah, Stefan Sieber
Author Information
Katharina Löhr: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany. ORCID
Paschal Mugabe: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany. ORCID
Ana Paula Dias Turetta: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany. ORCID
Jonathan Steinke: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Camilo Lozano: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Michelle Bonatti: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Luca Eufemia: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Larissa Hery Ito: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Alexandra Konzack: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Stefan Kroll: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Research Department II International Institutions, Hessen, Germany.
Charles Peter Mgeni: College of Economics and Business Studies, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
Dina Ramanank' Andrasana: Independent Consultant, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Sophia Tadesse: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
Masoud Yazdanpanah: Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani, Iran.
Stefan Sieber: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF e.V.), Müncheberg, Germany.
This study investigates the impacts of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder farmers and their coping strategies in three contrasting Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The case studies include Brazil (South region), Madagascar (Atsimo Atsinanana region), and Tanzania (Morogoro/Eastern Tanzania). These countries were chosen because i) the economies are strongly influenced by the agricultural sector; ii) their national food security is strongly affected by smallholder production, and, iii) they represent a set of contrasting government responses to COVID-19 including the denial of the pandemic. Data were collected through semi-structured household interviews in all three countries in rural areas. COVID-19 induced effects were found in all three countries, including in Brazil and Tanzania where both national governments initially neglected the existence of COVID-19 and introduced few containment measures only. Here, mobility and trade restrictions of other countries impact also on agricultural trade and production in countries in which governments took less action to COVID-19 and also people remained home and practiced social distancing even if no official government policy was issued. The findings in all three countries suggest that the COVID-19 crisis had negatively affected smallholders' agricultural production, leading to a vicious cycle of low production, low incomes, and higher food insecurity. Results of this study raise the thorny issue of how best to balance containment of pandemic and future shocks against the well-being of the vulnerable rural population in lower- and middle-income countries; especially considering also the degree of global interconnected and the potential of polices to effect people beyond the national scale.
