The resilience of sub-urban small farming in Bucharest Metropolitan Area in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In Romania, the immediate effects of the pandemic have revealed a strain on food supply chains due to the limitations related to social distancing between producers/deliverers/consumers. The paper aims to identify and analyze the resilience of small farmers in southern Romania (i.e., Bucharest Metropolitan Area) to the new conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. By combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, the analysis focused on the COVID-19 pandemic pre-conditions, impacts and resilience, as well as the post-COVID-19 solutions - the medium- and long-term measures necessary to sustain the effort of the farmers to cope with risks and uncertainties in the future. The study shows a close connection between some pre-existing conditions and farms capacity to become resilient to the shocks caused by the pandemic. Hence, organic farms demonstrated the highest resilience, while leisure and recreational farms the lowest. The research has improved the existing knowledge on the sub-urban farmers as key players of metropolitan agriculture and promoters of sustainability and food security for cities and identified some elements of resilience during COVID-19: reconnecting with local food production, networking, door-to-door delivery, multi-functionality inside the farm, etc. Particularly, backing small farmers to meet market requirements and access digital marketing are among the key measures to support local food systems and short food supply chains to adapt to future shocks.