The impact of climate change on poverty in the pandemic of Covid-19 in Bengawan Solo Watershed, Wonogiri District, Central Java

Abstract

Early Warning Early Action: Report on Food Security and Agriculture released by FAO April 2020 warns countries worldwide to be alerted to potential food crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost all countries worldwide are experiencing Covid-19 is no exception impacting the agricultural sector. This decrease in production and welfare level is due to the reduction of agricultural crop production. One of the risk factors for food security in the Covid pandemic era is extreme weather. Climate change causes global and domestic food stocks to decline and causes fluctuations in food prices and the food logistics system. This condition impacted the decrease in farmers’ income and welfare (NTP = Farmer Exchange Rate) and resulted in the poverty of farmers’ households. This study aims to (1) identify the production and income reductions from climate change and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, (2) analyze the poverty level of farmer households, (3) knowing the coping mechanism of farmer households to address climate change and the impact of Covid-19. The method used is the Bengawan Solo watershed area survey method with sample locations in 3 sub-districts with 120 farmer respondents interviewed with a structured questionnaire guide and FGD. The analysis method used descriptive analysis, income analysis, and poverty analysis. The results showed that farmers’ incomes decreased by 43.2%. The poverty rate of farmers increased with a shift of 9.8%; coping mechanism farmers persisted by paying attention and adhering to the health protocols of Covid-19 and trying to increase land productivity to meet daily needs.