Effects of Covid-19 on agriculture
Agriculture is one of the most crucial and important sectors in human life as it is directly in line with food security. This pandemic has caused a great impact on the global agricultural value chains which displays a huge threat on food security. The most affected sectors in agriculture are demand, supply and accessibility of food products.
This pandemic has taken a great toll on the food supply chain which is the process by which food products are distributed from the producers to the consumers. This is due to panic buying, shortage of labor for crop production, maintenance and harvesting, lack of access to farm inputs and also making it difficult for the farmers to get the produce to the market and the consumers to access the market. This happens as a result of the rules imposed on restrictions in movement and curfews.
The demand for food has also been seen to decrease as there is a reduction in spending due to job losses and reduced income (FAO, 2020b). There is also a great fear as this virus is transmitted via contact. Interruption of international trade as borders were closed are posing a threat on governments that are dependent on foreign sources for the supply of some food products (Kerr, 2020).
There is a big and severe problem in livestock production system as there is a strain in supply of labor, veterinary services, inadequate supply and access of animal feeds that can lead to starvation (Zhang, 2020). There is also a decreased consumption of animal products due to the fear that animals might be hosts to the virus.
References
Kerr, W. A. The COVID‐19 pandemic and agriculture–Short and long run implications for international trade relations. Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d’agroeconomie.
Zhang, X. 2020. Chinese livestock farms struggle under COVID-19 restrictions. Research Post of International Food Policy Research Institute. Available in: https://www.ifpri.org/blog/chineselivestock-farms-struggle-under-covid-19-restrictions