Middendorf B Jan, Faye Aliou, Middendorf Gerad, Stewart Zachary P, Jha Prakash K, Prasad P V Vara
Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research, Dakar, Senegal.
Agric Syst. 2021 May;190:103108. doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103108. Epub 2021 Feb 13.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has produced a variety of unanticipated shocks to farming and socio-economic systems around the world. In case of Senegal, the country was already facing number of challenges at the inception of the pandemic, including high rates of poverty, prevalence of food insecurity, combined with other biophysical and socioeconomic challenges faced generally in Sub-Saharan Africa.
To understand farmer perceptions of the potential impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural systems and social well-being of smallholder farmers in Senegal. Particular attention was given to potential vulnerabilities and resilience in the targeted farming systems.
A survey was developed to better understand smallholder farmer perceptions regarding the anticipated impacts of COVID-19 on their agriculture practices and social well-being. The survey was administered (between June 5 and June 20) with smallholder farmers ( = 872) in 14 regions covering all agroecological zones. Variables of interest included perceptions of potential impact on farming systems, agricultural productivity, communities, economics, markets, labor, gendered division of labor, food security, and community well-being.
Across the three farming systems examined (cropping, livestock, and horticulture) significant majorities expressed concerns related to access to inputs, ability to plant (cropping, horticulture), reduction of yields (cropping, horticulture), ability to feed livestock, ability to sell livestock, and the ability to hire labor (horticulture). The majority of respondents also expressed concern that COVID-19 would make it more difficult to get enough food on a regular basis for their household (82.5%); that the markets where they purchase food will either be closed or significantly disrupted (79.5%); that the price of food would increase (73.5%); and the market where they sell their produce/livestock will be either closed or significantly disrupted (73.2%).
Anticipated impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture will be felt on both the biophysical aspects such as production and access to inputs and socioeconomic aspects such as access to labor, markets, or rapid shifts in demand. Results support the need to use farming systems approach to gather perceived and actual impacts of COVID-19 and warrants a more in-depth examination of agronomic and biophysical issues as well as the impact on the livelihoods and social well-being of families at community and household levels. Further examination will help identify the characteristics that strengthen smallholder farming systems resilience to adjust to anticipated and unanticipated shocks, such as COVID-19, to decrease the negative impacts and increase the rate of recovery.
全球新冠疫情给世界各地的农业和社会经济系统带来了各种意想不到的冲击。就塞内加尔而言，在疫情开始时，该国就已经面临诸多挑战，包括高贫困率、粮食不安全问题普遍存在，以及撒哈拉以南非洲地区普遍面临的其他生物物理和社会经济挑战。
了解塞内加尔农民对新冠疫情对农业系统以及小农户社会福祉潜在影响的看法。特别关注目标农业系统中的潜在脆弱性和恢复力。
开展了一项调查，以更好地了解小农户对新冠疫情对其农业生产活动和社会福祉预期影响的看法。该调查于6月5日至6月20日期间，对涵盖所有农业生态区的14个地区的872名小农户进行。感兴趣的变量包括对农业系统、农业生产力、社区、经济、市场、劳动力、劳动性别分工、粮食安全和社区福祉的潜在影响的看法。
在所考察的三种农业系统（作物种植、畜牧和园艺）中，绝大多数人表达了对获取投入品、种植能力（作物种植、园艺）、产量降低（作物种植、园艺）、饲养牲畜能力、出售牲畜能力以及雇佣劳动力能力（园艺）的担忧。大多数受访者还担心新冠疫情会使他们更难定期为家庭获得足够的食物（82.5%）；他们购买食物的市场将关闭或受到严重干扰（79.5%）；食品价格会上涨（73.5%）；以及他们出售农产品/牲畜的市场将关闭或受到严重干扰（73.2%）。
新冠疫情对农业的预期影响将体现在生物物理方面，如生产和投入品获取，以及社会经济方面，如劳动力获取、市场或需求的快速变化。研究结果支持采用农业系统方法来收集新冠疫情的感知影响和实际影响，并需要更深入地研究农艺和生物物理问题，以及对社区和家庭层面家庭生计和社会福祉的影响。进一步的研究将有助于确定增强小农户农业系统恢复力以适应预期和意外冲击（如新冠疫情）的特征，以减少负面影响并提高恢复速度。
