Agricultural Markets, Cropping Patterns, and Consumption Patterns: The Moderating Effect of COVID-19 on Mountainous Communities

Muhammad Khayyam, Fatima Daud Kamal, Muhammad Nouman, Arjumand Nizami, Jawad Ali and Muhammad Asad Salim ()
Additional contact information
Muhammad Khayyam: School of Economics and Management, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 611756, China
Fatima Daud Kamal: Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Islamabad 04404, Pakistan
Muhammad Nouman: Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar 25100, Pakistan
Arjumand Nizami: Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Islamabad 04404, Pakistan
Jawad Ali: Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Islamabad 04404, Pakistan
Muhammad Asad Salim: Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Islamabad 04404, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: Since COVID-19’s emergence in 2020, all segments of life, including farming communities, have been impacted. The pandemic revealed both vulnerabilities and opportunities for resilience, particularly for those dwelling in the harsh mountainous terrains, which have already strained food ecosystems. Taking influence from an exhaustive literature review, this study proposes and tests a model for the transformations observed in the agriculture markets, particularly input, labor, and product markets, and elucidates the influence of these changes on cropping and consumption patterns. With data from two major mountainous terrains in north Pakistan spanning three years before and during the pandemic, a quantitative inquiry was carried out on the agriculture markets and farming patterns. A total of 5273 members of the farming communities were targeted for data collection. A two-step process was used for data analysis, including an evaluation of the outer or measurement model followed by the inner or structural model through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). With a hitherto ignored focus on the already vulnerable mountainous communities, the findings confirm the direct influence of agriculture markets on changes in the farmers’ cropping patterns as well as the moderating influence of the pandemic on these relationships. Consistent with previous literature, the results also affirm the influence of changes in cropping patterns and changes in consumption patterns. However, it was found that the agriculture input markets strongly predict the changes in cropping patterns, whereas the labor and product markets have comparatively lower prediction value. By investigating the various facets of food supply chains, this study offers valuable insights on market dynamics in times of a crisis, such as a pandemic.

Keywords: input markets; labor markets; product markets; changing patterns; moderating effect; PLS-SEM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/14934/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/14934/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:20:p:14934-:d:1260909

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().