Resilience and Livelihood Diversification in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case of Smallholder Farmers in Goromonzi District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on humanity, and rural households have not been spared. Focusing on Goromonzi District in rural Zimbabwe, this article employs the sustainable livelihoods framework to investigate its effects on agricultural production and marketing by resettled farmers in the first year of the pandemic. It shows that COVID brought with it several shocks, stresses, and vulnerabilities that affected rural households. It goes on to explore the risk-coping strategies that such households employed. Rural households can be seen as having used their agency to engage in diversified livelihood activities, by which they strengthened their coping capabilities and thus responded to the pandemic. With livelihoods at the center of analysis and capabilities, assets, and resources framing the discussion, the article provides an empirically grounded contribution on the immediate ramifications of the pandemic on rural households in Zimbabwe and how they managed to cope.