Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Farmers and Their Responses: A Study of Three Farming Systems in Kerala, South India

Anamika Menon and Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt
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Anamika Menon: Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru 560064, India
Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt: Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Freiburg University, 79106 Freiburg, Germany

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-30

Abstract: Particularly in countries with an agrarian economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought hardships faced by farmers into sharp focus. One of the most badly hit countries was India. This study aims to bring to light the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of farmers in three farming systems (coffee farming, Kole wetland paddy farming, and homestead farming) in the southern Indian state of Kerala. We collected the data using telephone interviews and studied the impacts (economic, social, institutional) of the pandemic on the selected farming systems, the responses of farmers (short and long term) to these impacts, and the ability of farmers to secure their livelihoods (by analyzing resilience capacities and transforming structures and processes of the farming systems). The methodological framework used was developed based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and the Resilience Framework. We found significant impacts on the three studied farming systems due to COVID-19. As the impacts, responses, and ability to secure livelihoods varied across the three farming systems, we concluded that there is not a single solution that could be prescribed for all farming systems and that each land use system must be treated individually.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic impact; farmer responses; livelihoods; resilience; Kerala (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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