Impact of COVID-19 on vegetable supply chain and food security: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh.

G M Monirul Alam,Most Nilufa Khatun,Md Nazirul Islam Sarker

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248120

Abstract

In Bangladesh, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have substantial effects on the livelihood of people, but smallholder vegetables growers will be even more affected because of the perishability nature of the product. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Bangladesh on 8th March, 2020 and consequently the country went into lockdown on 26 March, 2020. This study has made a survey of vegetables farmers through a mobile phone to understand the impact of COVID-19 on vegetables supply chain, gross margin and the future production plan of the growers. In Bangladesh, the lockdown has disrupted the food supply chain and increases the likelihood of food insecurity. Lockdown has impeded vegetable farmers’ access to markets, thus limiting their productive and sales capacities. The price of yield has dropped by more than half resulting in huge loss for vegetable growers. The loss incurred by the farmers for producing Brinjal, Cucumber, Pointed gourd, Yardlong beans and Bottle gourd are BDT 4900, BDT 10900, BDT 57400, BDT 52500 and BDT 18500 per acre respectively as a result of COVID-19. The decreased income increases farmers’ likelihood of vulnerability and food insecurity and poses a challenge to continued produce. ‘Cash support’ is more important than ‘food support’ in order to keep vegetable farmers in farming, to ensure a ready supply of necessary low-cost resources, and to help fight against the upcoming food shortage.

Highlights

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by a virus named ‘SARS-CoV-2’ has created an unprecedented situation globally
Based on a survey of vegetable growers and other key informants, this study aims to understand the impact of COVID-19 on vegetable supply chains, gross margins, food security, and growers’ future production plans
A detailed survey was conducted in the Monirampur upazila (Fig 1) of Jashore district between January and February 2020 to assess the market participation of the smallholder vegetables growers

Summary

Introduction

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by a virus named ‘SARS-CoV-2’ has created an unprecedented situation globally. It was first identified in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China in the late December 2019 [1]. The ‘COVID-19’ pandemic has posed a grave menace to human health, economy and food security both in developed and developing countries [2,3,4]. The poor people in developing countries such as Bangladesh will be impacted disproportionately mainly due to their poor income and inadequate healthcare system [5]. The ‘COVID-19’ pandemic might have longer effects on income of poor people like smallholder vegetables farmers’ [6] and on their food security and nutrition [7].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion