Factors affecting the livelihood of Tenant Farmers

during COVID-19 Pandemic

A Paper

Presented to the Faculty of the Institute of Management

Bulacan Agricultural College

San Ildefonso, Bulacan

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Course

Agribusiness Research (AGBUS 305)

MIRACLE DE JESUS
GABRIEL RAPHAEL S. VILLACORTE
ALVIN G. DELA CRUZ
JOHNREY DELA CRUZ
VINCENT JOSEPH C. GERONIMO
VINHZ DELA CRUZ

November 2021

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 CHAPER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

COVID-19 is a disease caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2. Most people with

COVID-19 have mild symptoms, but some people can become severely ill. Although most
people with COVID-19 get better within weeks of illness, some people experience post-COVID
conditions. Post-COVID conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health
problems people can experience more than four weeks after first being infected with the virus
that causes COVID-19. Older people and those who have certain underlying medical conditions
are more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19. Vaccines against COVID-19 are safe and
effective.
Mobility restrictions set in place in early 2020 to stem the spread of COVID-19, the
disease caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), have disrupted economies worldwide,
disproportionately affecting populations already vulnerable to poverty and malnutrition
(Laborde, Martin, & Vos, 2020). Since more than two thirds of the world’s poor depend on
agriculture for income (Castaneda et al., 2016), it is important to understand how policies
implemented to prevent a further spread of the disease affect tenant farmers’ livelihoods. As
governments seek to alleviate the welfare implications of disrupted agricultural value chains,
early lessons on the effects of a lockdown, and insights on how this can vary by context, can
inform policy for recovery and improve preparedness for future calamities.
Farmers are used to adapting to circumstances, whether it’s droughts, floods or
infestations of pests. Overcoming unpredictable hurdles goes with the job, but the pandemic is
bringing a range of new challenges to growing the food people depend upon. These challenges
make it clear that more must be done to enhance the resilience of our food system. To understand
these obstacles, we spoke to farmers, growers, producers and industry figures around the world
to learn how they are adapting in this unprecedented time.
Almost 60 percent of the irrigated area is cultivated by medium-scale tenant farmers
relying on short-term rental contracts. It seems that gig economies characterized by flexible
contract arrangements implemented by outside contractors, which are increasingly fueling

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sophisticated sectors in developed countries, are important in these commercial agrarian settings
in Africa as well. We further find that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant disruptions
of this model, as seen by more limited access to services and the unavailability or high price
increases in factor markets, especially for labor. We further note large but heterogenous price
changes in output markets. The pandemic seems especially to have had important effects on the
medium-scale tenant farmers as they depend relatively more than smallholders on outside inputs,
labor markets, and these gig economies. However, on the other hand, they benefit more than
smallholders from favorable output markets for vegetables.

Objectives of the Study

This study aims to determine the Factors affecting the livelihood of Tenant Farmers
during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Specifically, the study aimed to:

1. Determine the socio-demographic profile of the tenant farmers in terms of:
1.1. Age
1.2. Sex
1.3. Civil status
1.4. Educational attainment
1.5. Years working on that occupation
1.6. Income
2. Determine the factors affecting the tenant farmers during pandemic in terms of:
2.1 Availability of landholder who leases their farmlands
2.2 Way of tenancy the landholder wants
2.3 Capability of the tenant to finance the expenses of farming
2.4 The rate of rent
2.5 Willingness to farm during these circumstances
3. To identify issues and challenges faced by tenant farmers and how these issues affected
their lives in the context of Covid Pandemic.

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Hypothesis of the Study

The Covid-19 Pandemic affected the livelihood of tenant farmers in San Ildefonso,
Bulacan.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

The study focuses on the factors affecting the livelihood of Tenant Farmers during
COVID-19 Pandemic. The study will be observed at San Ildefonso Bulacan. The respondents of
the study will be selected in San Ildefonso Bulacan, to gather the necessary data needed for the
analysis and interpretation.

Definition of Terms
The terms below are defined to clearly clarify the manner they are referred to and used
operationally terms in the study.

Covid-19. This refers to an acute respiratory illness in humans caused by a coronavirus,

capable of producing severe symptoms and in some cases death, especially in older people and
those with underlying health conditions. It was originally identified in China in 2019 and became
pandemic in 2020.
Farmlands. This refers to the land used for farming.
Landholder. This refers to a person, natural or juridical, who, either as owner, lessee,
usufructuary, or legal possessor, lets or grants to another the use or cultivation of his land for a
consideration either in shares under the share tenancy system, or a price certain or ascertainable
under the leasehold tenancy system.

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 Livelihood. This refers to the means of securing the necessities of life.
Tenancy. This refers to possession of land or property as a tenant.
Tenant Farmer. This refers to a person who, himself and with the aid available from
within his immediate farm household, cultivates the land belonging to, or possessed by, another,
with the latter's consent for purposes of production, sharing the produce with the landholder
under the share tenancy system, or paying to the landholder a price certain or ascertainable in
produce or in money or both, under the leasehold tenancy system.
Pandemic. This refers to an outbreak of infectious disease that occurs over a wide
geographical area and that is of high prevalence, generally affecting a significant proportion of
the world’s population, usually over the course of several months.