Michigan State University

COVID-19’s Effects on Farmers

Madison Echlin
Professor Camp
ANP 489
12 Dec 2022
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Introduction:

The purpose of this research paper is to explore the effects the COVID-19 pandemic had

on smallholder1 farms. I have a particular interest in this topic because my family recently

became part of the smallholder community a year before the pandemic ensued. Thankfully my

family is able to sell directly to buyers, but a lot of local farmers around us relied on farmers

markets or contracts with places like schools which closed as a result of the pandemic. Many of

the dairy farmers lost their contracts with schools and had to throw out thousands of dollars

worth of product. I saw the effects of the pandemic first hand throughout my new community.

This topic became such an important issue to me. As an anthropology undergraduate student I

wanted to shed light on these effects brought on by the pandemic.

Through participant observation and in-depth interviews with local farmers and sellers of

the Oakland County area, I was able to do comprehensive research on how the COVID-19

pandemic affected their livelihoods. My findings were that the effects of COVID-19 centered

around an increase of demand rather than supply chain issues, which was my original focus. I

also found that the pandemic actually helped some local farmers since everyone was at home

looking for something to do with their kids, or they all of a sudden wanted to be healthier. This

increase of demand meant an increase of production which became a problem when everyone

was able to go back to work and school and no longer had time to shop locally for their produce

or animal products. Most of the information I found was to be expected, many farmers failed and

many more were badly impacted by farmers markets closing down or limiting the amount of

people allowed in at one time.

The information I was able to collect through my own local observation gave me insight

and a starting point to conduct this research paper on how COVID-19 affected farmers all over
1
A smallholder farm is defined as usually being less than two hectares or roughly 4.9 acres of land.
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the world. This research paper aims to examine how the severity of COVID-19 exposure

prevention measures impacted smallholder farms.

Methodology:

This research paper evaluates multiple different articles and research done in over ten

different countries by scholars all over the world. The research I examined comes from

interviews, surveys, participant observation, and data analysis. I will be cross-examining

multiple scholarly articles that cover countries like Nigeria, Turkey, Vietnam, Zambia, Kenya,

Tanzania, and more. I will combine information that I found throughout the articles and show

trends of the overall wellbeing2 of farmers as a result of the pandemic or more specifically how

the severity of contamination measures have impacted farmers. However, given the COVID-19

pandemic is a recent and continuing event there is very little published work on how farmers

have changed as a response, but I will detail the few I found and analyze how the severity of

contamination measures impacted the wellbeing of farmers throughout the world.

Findings:

I have analyzed and examined six scholarly papers written on COVID’s effects on eleven

different countries. These articles strictly focused on how smallholders were affected and only

referred to larger farmers when examining smallholder failures. The countries covered are:

Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Iran, and

Turkey. However, it is important to note that these research papers covered a variety of

2
Wellbeing in this context refers to financial stability and access to everything that is needed for a happy
and healthy life.
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sub-national regions within these countries, hence this information does, in no way, reflect how

the farming community of each country as a whole was impacted by COVID.

COVID-19 brought about a completely new way of living. Everyone suddenly became

shut-ins and had to learn how to work or learn from home. Here in America we saw a complete

shift in every part of daily life, from what technology we use to what we wear to what we like to

do. However, while some people with 9-5 jobs can effectively complete their job requirements

from the comfort of their own couch, there were a lot of people who couldn’t, like farmers. If a

small scale farmer depends on farmers markets or a middle man to sell their products, then

COVID would mean finding a new profession. Even farmers who had contracts with companies

ended up throwing a lot of their produce out. Dairy farmers, for example, could no longer supply

schools so they simply had to discard their entire stock; which only made a bigger problem.

COVID closures led to mass food waste, which led to a decrease in financial security for

farmers, which led to an inability to keep their animals or land.

However, the severity of the impact on smallholders depended mainly on the severity of

COVID containment measures. Some countries like Tanzania simply ignored COVID and

everything continued as normal which meant a small negative impact on farmers mainly

concerning distribution problems from other countries. Countries like Burundi simply weren’t

financially stable enough to shut down their economy so they also continued on as normal, again

meaning there was a small impact on farmers. Then there was the other end of the spectrum.

Vietnam, Rwanda, and Ethiopia all chose a more strict approach and enforced curfews,

conducted contact tracing, strict social distancing, travel restrictions, and more. However, most

countries did relax their more stringent lock-down efforts once data showed a reduction in

COVID cases in recognition of negative economic impacts.

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In one particularly in-depth study conducted within seven countries spanning 9,201

households, it was found that the effects of the containment measures were often perceived to be

severe. In five of the seven countries the severity of impact on farmers was highly noticeable

with 80% reporting a reduction of food consumption or variety of food consumption. Things like

mobility restrictions, reduced market access, crashes in sale prices of goods, and increases in

prices for food purchases were key factors that negatively impacted farmers and farm households

(Hammond et al., 2022). This study brought up the controversial issue of how to balance

pandemic containment measures with the wellbeing of vulnerable rural lower and middle class

populations. The authors argued, “there is a risk that the buffering capacity of rural people will

become exhausted,” (Hammond et al., 2). Meaning farmers aren’t well subsidized for pandemic

shutdowns and if the stringency of containment continues, or if lockdowns are again

implemented, then smallholders will be wiped off the map. The World Bank even estimated that

at the end of 2020 more than 100 million people were pushed into extreme poverty due to

COVID-193.

Breakdown of containment measures vs effects by country4:

Tanzania: The government did not acknowledge that COVID-19 was in Tanzania and

therefore continued as normal. Hammond et al. conducted 2,590 interviews over two months and

recorded no significant peaks in COVID cases. The sub-national regions that were focused on in

their research were Mbeya, Arusha, Iringa, Kilolo south, Iringa, Songwe, and Njombe. Tanzania

did not report any cases5 because researchers were not allowed to ask about COVID awareness.

3
World Bank, Prospects Group. “Global Economic Prospects.” World Bank, June 2022,
https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects.
4
Breakdown is in order of stringency, the first being the least restrictive and the last being the most
restrictive.
5
Cases here refers to knowledge of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.
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Around 20% of the population reported negative impacts. Majority reported severity of impact in

farm sales, agricultural labor, off-farm income, and mobility. Less than 10% reported negative

impacts in terms of buying food or agricultural inputs. Mobility was hit the hardest in terms of

severity with the full 20% reporting impact. (Hammond et al., 2022).

Burundi: The government frankly stated that they were too poor a country to shut down

their economy for the pandemic. Everything continued as normal. Hammond et al. conducted

842 interviews over two months and reported no significant COVID peaks. The sub-national

regions focused on were Muramvya, Gitega, and Ngozi. Burundi was aware of COVID cases but

less than 5% reported any awareness in their local community or in the broader area. Less than

20% reported any impact due to COVID. Within the 20% most concerns centered around

off-farm income and buying food. Almost 10% reported severe impact when it came to off-farm

income hits. (Hammond et al., 2022).

Zambia: Zambia closed universities, schools, entertainment places, and large gatherings.

However, the government did not enforce curfews or mobility restrictions. Hammond et al.

conducted 1,433 interviews over two months and reported COVID peaks in July of 2020 and

February 2021. The sub-national regions interviewed were Chibombo, Kapiri, and Chisamba.

Zambia was aware of COVID cases, but less than 5% of respondents reported knowledge of any

cases in their community or broader. Of that less than 5%, more reported cases in their local

community than in wider personal networks. More than 50% of respondents reported severe

impacts all across the board, with agricultural labor and off-farm income being the least

impacted. Most impact reported centered on farm sales, mobility, and buying foods (with

agricultural inputs close behind). (Hammond et al., 2022).

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Uganda: Uganda enforced curfews and travel restrictions. Hammond et al. conducted

859 interviews over five months and reported COVID peaks in September of 2020, December

2020, and January 2021. Still less than 10% reported any cases in their local community or

broader, with the majority reporting their local community had more cases than their wider

personal networks. Around 70% reported impact due to COVID. The hardest hit was mobility

because of the enforced travel restrictions. However, farm sales and off-farm income were also

reported to be severely hit with roughly 40% of the population reporting negative impacts. The

area impacted the least was agricultural labor which less than 5% reported any impact at all.

(Hammond et al., 2022).

Kenya: Kenya followed suit with Uganda and opted for enforced curfews and travel

restrictions. Hammond et al. conducted 1,711 interviews over three months and reported COVID

peaks in July and November of 2020. The sub-national regions that were interviewed were

Western, Rift, Nyanza, and Central. Kenya was aware of COVID cases with roughly 15%

reporting cases in their community or broader. Majority of respondents reported there were more

cases in their wider personal networks than their own community. Severity of impact was seen

all across the board with Mobility and off-farm income being hit the hardest. Roughly 60% of

respondents reported mobility issues due to the restriction on travel and roughly 40% reported an

impact on off-farm income. Agricultural labor and agricultural inputs were hit the least but still

roughly 10% reported impact. (Hammond et al., 2022).

Vietnam: Vietnam enforced stringent containment measures including curfews, contact

tracing, and social distancing protocols. Hammond et al. conducted 489 interviews over three

months and reported COVID peaks in March through April and July through August of 2020.

The sub-national regions that were focused on were Son La, and Thai Nguyen. However, less
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than 5% reported knowledge of cases in their community or broader which is interesting because

of how many COVID peaks were reported. Roughly 70% reported impact, mainly on mobility,

buying food, farm sales, and off-farm income. Roughly 25% reported impact on agricultural

inputs and agricultural labor. (Hammond et al., 2022).

Rwanda: Rwanda followed suit with Vietnam and implemented curfews, contact tracing,

and strict social distancing measures. Hammond et al. conducted 1,151 interviews over two

months and reported COVID peaks in August of 2020 and January of 2021. The sub-national

regions focused on were East, West, South, and South West. Roughly 20% reported knowledge

of COVID cases in their local communities or broader. Majority reporting cases in wider

personal networks than their own local communities. Moreover, roughly 80% of the respondents

reported impacts mainly on buying food with 40% reporting the impact was severe. The least

impacted were agricultural inputs and farm sales but both impacted over 20% of the interviewed

population. Rwanda is the only country to have more than 70% of the population report impacts.

(Hammond et al., 2022).

Within Hammond et al.’s seven countries Rwanda and Kenya reported the most

knowledge of confirmed or suspected cases of COVID within their local communities or in their

wider personal networks. In both cases the majority reported more cases in their wider personal

networks than in their local community. But Rwanda reported the most cases in their local

community out of all six countries that were able to report (as stated before Tanzania was not

allowed to be asked). The most strict containment measures were in Rwanda and Vietnam, both

of which showed over 20% of the population reported severe impacts. 70% of the interviewed

population in Vietnam reported any kind of impact and 80% reported impact in Rwanda. In the

majority of all seven countries agricultural labor was the least impacted, with Tanzania and
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Rwanda being outliers. In Rwanda agricultural inputs and farm sales were hit less than

agricultural labor. In Tanzania buying food, agricultural inputs, and off-farm income were

impacted less than agricultural labor. The countries that reported the least amount of impact due

to the pandemic were Tanzania and Burundi who both continued as if COVID did not exist. Then

came Zambia which did not enforce curfews or travel restrictions but did close schools,

universities, and large gatherings. Roughly 50% was impacted, 30% severely.

Hence, the relationship between severity of containment measures and the wellbeing of

smallholders is seen here in Hammond et al.’s research. The increase in severity of containment

measures means an increase in negative effects on the farmers. However, I am not saying there

should be no containment measures so that farmers are not impacted. There needs to be a balance

between the two, or even exceptions made for farmers in terms of travel restrictions or

lockdowns. Moreover, these seven countries in this one scholarly article are not the only

significant countries to consider. Every country was affected by COVID whether it was

acknowledged or not. I have found multiple articles on multiple other countries including:

Ethiopia, Turkey, Nigeria, Iran, India, and South Africa, a few of which are overviewed here.

Iran: Iran had nationwide restrictions but no lockdowns. There were social distancing

policies, and mask requirements but compliance with these policies varied by community even

within the same city. In southern Iran income for farmers decreased, agricultural activities felt

threatened, food waste increased, and many experienced labor shortages because of the

pandemic. 54% of the farmers interviewed said they would save any produce they couldn’t sell

but given how much farmers grow and how perishable the items were it is hard to say whether

this was feasible for most products or most households. However, most of the sample population

believed that they could adapt or control the effects of COVID-19. (Yazdanpanah et al., 2021).
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Nigeria: Nigeria had a countrywide lockdown that began in March of 2020. Roughly

87% of Nigeria’s rural population are crop farmers. Yegbemey et al.’s research on North Western

Nigeria measures impact through a 5-point Likert scale where one means not affected and five

means severely affected. One table broke down the effects of the COVID-19 measures by

category. The least impactful being social distancing and quarantines. The most impactful being

general lockdowns and input market closures. The North Western Nigeria population was mostly

impacted in terms of the cost of food and shortage in input supply. Majority reported problems

getting access to pesticides and fertilizers. The pandemic led to an increased cost of production

and interruption of loan accessibility, insufficient food supply and decrease in farm-to-market

distribution of agricultural products, shortage of labor for agricultural production, huge economic

losses, travel restrictions on transportation of perishable farm produce to the market, and food

insecurity. The closures and restrictions of markets became the biggest challenge which affected

most farmers in the country. (Yegbemey et al., 2021).

Turkey: Turkey’s response to COVID was mainly selective containment and mitigation

measures. There were travel restrictions, intermittent curfews, school closures, and social

isolations. In Konya, Turkey research was conducted by Atnan Uğur and Tuğba Buruklar

through surveys and interviews with 150 smallholder participants. Majority of farmers

interviewed were worried about harvest and sales mostly due to price instabilities due to the

pandemic. There was difficulty in working and recruiting seasonal laborers, productivity and

quality was impacted, supply of production materials was affected, and access to agricultural

products and food were limited. (Uğur and Buruklar, 2021).

Ethiopia: Ethiopia limited public gatherings, closed schools, had high-risk civil servants

work virtually, closed borders, suspended flights, restricted mass transports, declared a
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five-month national state of emergency, postponed elections, and expanded testing capacity.

Research done by Temesgen Kabeta and Mabiratu Dangia showed that Ethiopia’s coffee market

participation decreased by 18.75% due to smallholders failing during COVID. Shutdowns and

restrictions on movement meant a lot of smallholders failed due to a reduction of income for

farmers, a limited availability of labor, transportation difficulties, and so on. Farmers in Ethiopia

were also reportedly scared to send their family members to the market during COVID. Kabeta

and Dangia’s research was conducted in the Godere district, Mahjong Zone, Gambella National

Regional State of Ethiopia. Out of the 384 coffee producers interviewed in Ethiopia 88%

reported limited labor, and 85% reported transportation difficulties. Moreover, 65.11% of

respondents reported farmers income from coffee reduced due to the pandemic. (Temesgen and

Dangia, 2022).

These four countries show that everyone was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

However, the more stringent the containment measures were, the more farmers were impacted.

Yet, there is another subject to consider when it comes to impact on farmers, it is not only how

stringent the containment measures for the pandemic are but also how they were enforced. In

countries like Vietnam, Rwanda, and Ethiopia the containment measures were quite strict and

included lockdowns, curfews, closures, and social distancing. These three countries also had

reports with the most impact on farmers, however the majority of the severe impact centered

around travel restrictions and mobility problems. These countries could have made exceptions

for essential workers, like farmers. While this would not fix the entirety of problems farmers

faced during COVID this could have greatly diminished the impact.

It is also significant to note that most farmers did not receive official aid throughout all

eleven countries I researched. The U.S. Government Accountability Office even stated that the
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USDA paid over $6 million to a farm that did not own the cattle that they reported losing.6 This

statistic does not reflect what was happening all over the world. However, fraud is commonly

reported throughout the world during situations like natural disasters, pandemics, or overall

moments of weakness. It can be assumed that many smallholders did not apply for financial aid,

there might not have been official financial aid for smallholders in certain countries, or they did

not qualify for financial aid.

Significance:

So why does it matter if smallholder farmers fail? Why should we care about the little

farm when there are so many giant farms? First of all, smallholders are a vital part of our entire

food system. In many low to middle income countries smallholders contribute the majority of

food production. In places like Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China,

small farms produce more than 75% of food commodities (Hammond et al., 2022). Second of all,

the widespread failure of smallholders will lead to, if it hasn’t already, mass production of

produce and livestock. Mass production may benefit big companies but typically bodes

negatively for consumers and the environment.

One might think the recent trend in buying organically is only for health nuts, but it's

actually better for the entire community and not just humans. A multitude of chemicals are used

on non-organic produce, which can kill bees and seep into the ground and stay for centuries.

These chemicals inadvertently create stronger pests which wipe out farms that don’t use harsh

chemicals and they create a toxic cycle that continues to contaminate our environment. Not all

organic produce is chemical or pesticide free, usually it’s not, but it's a step in the right direction.

6
U.S. Government Accountability Office. “Billions in COVID-19 and Trade Relief for Farmers-How Was
It Distributed?” U.S. GAO, 7 Jan. 2020,
https://www.gao.gov/blog/billions-covid-19-and-trade-relief-farmers-how-was-it-distributed.
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Mass production of livestock means borderline inhumane conditions. The best way to

farm cattle is to let them graze over a significant piece of land. This will maintain the health of

the land, the manure will improve the soil quality, and carbon is sequestered in the grazing lands.

However, when mass production takes place there is only a small amount of acreage and a large

amount of livestock.

Moreover, more agricultural land is used for the farming of cattle than all other livestock

and crops combined. Using marginal lands to grow feed can lead to soil degradation since

livestock farming is a main contributor of soil erosion all over the world. Beef production

specifically has an alarming effect on climate change because of greenhouse gas emissions like

methane and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, an area of rainforest the size of New York state is

destroyed to create grazing lands for livestock each year. Due to deforestation, overgrazing and

poor agricultural practices like mass production of livestock has led to the desertification of

one-third of the world’s land. While over two-thirds of the world’s land is used for maintaining

livestock.7 Mass production at best means the use of chemicals no one fully understands, at worst

furthers climate change and means inhumane conditions for livestock.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, it can be clearly seen that an increase in the severity of contamination

measures means a decrease in the wellbeing of smallholder farms and farmers. However, most

containment measures needed to take place in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. Yet, the

severity of impact on the farmers could have been limited by creating exceptions to containment

measures like travel restriction. Overall, COVID-19 is a good example for what policies and

7
“Beef.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/beef.
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protocols we need to put in place all over the world in order to save essential workers from future

pandemics.
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Annotated Bibliography

Bolarin, Olufemi, et al. “Adaptation Strategies of Small-Scale Farmers to Challenges of

COVID-19 Pandemic in Osun State, Nigeria.” Scientific Journal of the Warsaw

University of Life Sciences (SGGW) - Problems of World Agriculture / Problemy

Rolnictwa Światowego, vol. 22, no. 1, Jan. 2022, pp. 4–16.

This journal itemized types of crops grown, assessed the challenges, examined the

perceived effects of challenges, investigated the adaptation strategies employed. It

showed that the lockdown led to poor health, less transport for produce, a

decrease in income, and labor shortages. However, this article was so important

because it detailed what happened because of the pandemic. COVID led to

planting available grains instead of seeds, reduced food consumption, and an

increase in use of family labor in Nigeria. The significant factors influencing

these adaptation strategies were education level, marital status, whether there was

a non-farm income, how many years of experience, and so on.

Hammond, James, et al. “Perceived Effects of COVID-19 Restrictions on Smallholder Farmers:

Evidence from Seven Lower- and Middle-Income Countries.” Agricultural Systems, vol.

198, Apr. 2022.

This article covered 9,201 interviews over seven countries with smallholder

farmers. It broke down each country by how many interviews were conducted

there, how long researchers stayed there, and the severity of the contamination

measurements. Severe containment measures led to ½ to ¾ of smallholders

reporting losses and 80% had to reduce consumption or variety of what is

consumed. In relaxed containment countries, 20% reported negative outcomes.

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This article also brought up that 30-90% of households developed coping

mechanisms in response to the pandemic. Yet, almost all reported complete

absence of official aid amongst interviewed. The outcome of the article showed

the balance between containment severity and wellbeing of the farmer.

Kabeta, Temesgen, and Mabiratu Dangia. “Effects of COVID-19 on Coffee Market Participation

of Smallholder Coffee Producers’ in Godere District, Southwestern Ethiopia.” Advances

in Agriculture, May 2022, pp. 1–10.

This article details that coffee market participation was reduced from 100% to

81.25% in Southwestern Ethiopia due to smallholders failing. COVID’s effects on

smallholders meant they could not participate in the coffee market. Stakeholders

in the sector were not well subsidized to recover from the depression. This article

also detailed that most farmers were not receiving financial aid to decrease the

impact on their livelihoods.

Uğur, Atnan, and Tuğba Buruklar. “Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic on Agri-Food Production and

Farmers.” Food Science and Technology, vol. 42, Jan. 2022.

This article details a study conducted in Konya, Turkey. It provides tables with

breakdowns of sociodemographic characteristics of agricultural laborers and

effects of COVID had on production activities. Also these tables broke down not

only by sociodemographics but also by agricultural sector (e.g. irrigation farming,

dry farming, livestock…). Across the board the surveys showed that all sectors

and all sociodemographics generally agreed there would be a food crisis.

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Yazdanpanah, Masoud, et al. “Cognitive Theory of Stress and Farmers’ Responses to the COVID

19 Shock; a Model to Assess Coping Behaviors with Stress among Farmers in Southern

Iran.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, vol. 64, Oct. 2021.

This article helped to understand the coping mechanisms and overall collective

feelings within the farming community in Iran. This study would help to

implement health and social programs and policies in agricultural communities to

help get through the pandemic or future pandemics. This detailed how the country

was handling things for agriculturalists during COVID.

Yegbemey, R. N., et al. “Covid-19 Effects and Resilience of Vegetable Farmers in North-Western

Nigeria.” Agronomy, vol. 11, no. 9, Sept. 2021.

This article details how COVID-19 affected vegetable farming by smallholder

farmers in North Western Nigeria. This source on Nigeria went more in depth on

what the COVID protocols were and broke down the extent to which farmers

were impacted by COVID. Multiple tables within the article detail the perceived

severity of each containment measure from general lockdowns to curfews to input

market shutdowns.