Listen to the voice of farmers in the wake of pandemic
Main Article Content
Abstract
With the ongoing chaos in this pandemic, much of what we took for granted is now in doubt. Nonetheless, one thing appears to have remained constant: marginalized groups in society continue to suffer the most, and these are small-scale farmers. Thus, this qualitative study sought to understand small-scale farmers' experiences during the COVID 19 outbreak. Specifically, it explored the challenges they have experienced and identified the coping mechanisms they employed. A total of 15 small-scale farmers were conveniently and purposely selected from Cabarroguis, Quirino, who took part in an individual in-depth and semi-structured interview. The results of the study revealed the typical issues faced by farmers which include financial problems, poverty, a lack of employment, transportation/mobility, climate change, and higher commodity prices. Despite these obstacles, farmers used coping techniques to overcome them. They are compelled to borrow from credit companies to maintain production. Additionally, they received government assistance. They also earned money from direct selling. Finally, farmers keep their resilience in the face of difficulties during the pandemic. Hence, this study serves as a foundation for developing inclusive, practical pro-farmer policies that consider the perspectives of small-scale farmers during and after the COVID 19 crisis.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
- for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
-
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
References
Ablao, R. (2015). Poverty and the Filipino mindset- https://www.academia.edu/33521272/poverty.
Bochtis, D., Benos, L., Lampridi, M., Marinoudi, V., Pearson, S., & Sørensen, C. G. (2020). Agricultural workforce crisis in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability, 12(19), 8212.
Brul, B. (2021). The continuing toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on farmers in the Philippines. https://grameenfoundation.org/stories/blog/the-continuing-toll-of-the-covid-19-pandemic
Coulombe, S., Pacheco, T., Cox, E., Khalil, C., Doucerain, M. M., Auger, E., & Meunier, S. (2020). Risk and resilience factors during the COVID-19 pandemic: a snapshot of the experiences of Canadian workers early on in the crisis. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 580702.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.Dela Cruz, D. N. J. (2019). “Dry season to come earlier than usual.” The Manila Times Publishing Corp, http//www.manilatimes.net/2019/03/21/news.
Elleby, C., Domínguez, I. P., Adenauer, M., & Genovese, G. (2020). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global agricultural markets. Environmental and Resource Economics, 76(4), 1067-1079.
Espitia, A., Rocha, N. & Ruta, M. (2020). Covid-19 and food protectionism, Policy Research Working Paper, Washington, DC, World Bank. http://documents1.worldbank.org.
FAO & WFP (2020). FAO-WFP early warning analysis of acute food insecurity hotspots, Rome, FAO & WFP. http://www.fao.org/documents/card.
FAO (2020). Rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on food supply chains in the Philippines, https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines.
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO (2019). The state of food security and nutrition in the world. Safeguarding against economic slowdowns and downturns.
Fore, H. H., Dongyu, Q., Beasley, D. M., Ghebreyesus, T. A. (2020). Child malnutrition, and COVID-19: the time to act is now. The Lancelet, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140.
Herliana, S., Sutardi, A., Aina, Q., Aliya, Q. H., & Lawiyah, N. (2018). The Constraints of agricultural credit and government policy strategy. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 215, p. 02008). EDP Sciences.
Hossain, M. M., Purohit, N., Sharma, R., Bhattacharya, S., McKyer, E. L. J., & Ma, P. (2020). Suicide of a farmer amid COVID-19 in India: Perspectives on social determinants of suicidal behavior and prevention strategies.
Iderawumi, A. M. (2016). Impact of Micro Credit Financing on Agricultural Production. ANGLISTICUM. Journal of the Association-Institute for English Language and American Studies, 4(8), 8-15.
Jámbor, A., Czine, P., & Balogh, P. (2020). The impact of the coronavirus on agriculture: first evidence based on global newspapers. Sustainability, 12(11), 4535.
Karpman, M., Gonzalez, D., & Kenney, G. M. (2020). Parents are struggling to provide for their families during the pandemic. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Lubang, S. (2019). Towards liberation from debts of Filipino farmers, food & fertilizer technology Center for the Asia & Pacific Region, FFTC Agricultural Policy Platform (FFTC-AP).
Kuntz, J. C. (2021). Resilience in times of global pandemic: Steering recovery and thriving trajectories. Applied Psychology= Psychologie Appliquee, 70(1), 188.
Lakhan, G. R., Channa, S. A., Magsi, H., Koondher, M. A., Wang, J., & Channa, N. A. (2020). Credit constraints and rural farmers’ welfare in an agrarian economy. Heliyon, 6(10), e05252.
Benedek Z, Fertő I, Galamba Marreiros C, Aguiar PMd, Pocol CB, Čechura L, et al. (2021) Farm diversification as a potential success factor for small-scale farmers constrained by COVID-related lockdown. Contributions from a survey were conducted in four European countries during the first wave of COVID-19. Vol. 16, No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251715.
Mandala, G. N., Sangode, P. B., Devi, S. A., & Gandreti, V. R. R. (2021). Problems and Constraints Faced by Farmers in Financing and Marketing of Agricultural Produce in India. Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance, 9(2), 139-144.
Middendorf, B. J., Faye, A., Middendorf, G., Stewart, Z. P., Jha, P. K., & Prasad, P. (2021). Smallholder farmer perceptions about the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture and livelihoods in Senegal Agricultural Systems, Vol. 190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103108.
Moahid, M., & Maharjan, K. L. (2020). Factors affecting farmers’ access to formal and informal credit: Evidence from rural Afghanistan. Sustainability, 12(3), 1268.
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International journal of qualitative methods, 16(1), 1609406917733847.
Palo, A. Rosetes, M. & Cariño, D. (2020). COVID-19 and food systems in the Philippines. https://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/covid19.
Pan, D., Yang, J., Zhou, G., & Kong, F. (2020). The influence of COVID-19 on agricultural economy and emergency mitigation measures in China: A text mining analysis. PloS one, 15(10), e0241167.
Patnaik, N. M. (2020). The effects of COVID-19 and its Psychological impact on people from different strata in India. Agricultural Extension in South Asia.
Philippine Statistics Authority (2019). Minimum wage rates by sector and region, Philippines https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files.pdf
Ragasa, C., Lambrecht, I., Mahrt, K., Aung, Z. W., & Wang, M. (2022). 9. COVID-19 undermines incomes, livelihoods in rural Myanmar. 2YEARS, 58.
Rosegrant, M., Perez, N., Pradesha, A. and Thomas, S. (2015). The economy-wide impacts of climate change on Philippine Agriculture. https://www.ctc-n.org/sites/www.ctc-n.org/files/129755.pdf.
Rudolphi, J. M., Berg, R. L., & Parsaik, A. (2020). Depression, anxiety and stress among young farmers and ranchers: a pilot study. Community mental health journal, 56(1), 126-134.
Scudellari, M. (2020). How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond. Nature, 22-25.
Shafiai, M. H. M. & Moi, M. R. (2015). Financial problems among farmers in Malaysia: Islamic agricultural finance as a possible solution, Vol. 11, No. 4, DOI: 10.5539/ass. v11n4p1.
Siddiqui, D., Matibe, E., Obiero, O., Singh, A. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on farmers. Kenya Report, https://www.microsave.net/wp-content.
Thang, T., Trang, T., Linh, N., & Thuy, N. (2020). Impacts of COVID 19 pandemic on smallholder farmers and vulnerable rural people in Vietnam. https://ap.fftc.org.tw/article/2676.
Torero, M. (2020). Prepare food systems for a long-haul fight against COVID-19. IFPRI book chapters, 118-121.
Ungar, M., and Theron, L. (2020). Resilience and mental health: how multisystemic processes contribute to positive outcomes. Lancet Psychiatr. Vol. 7, pp. 441–448, doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(19).
UNICEF PHILIPPINES (2021). Effects of COVID-19 on child poverty and efficacy of the Philippines’ response. https://www.unicef.org/philippines/media.
United Nations (2020). Maximizing sustainable agri-food supply chain opportunities to redress COVID-19 in developing countries, https://unctad.org/system/files.
United Nations (UN) (2020a). The Impact of COVID-19 on Latin America and the Caribbean. i. https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief.
Waltenburg, M. A., Victoroff, T., Rose, C. E., Butterfield, M., Jervis, R. H., Fedak, K. M., ... & Zarate-Bermudez, M. (2020). Update: COVID-19 among workers in meat and poultry processing facilities―United States, April–May 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(27), 887.
World Bank (2021). COVID-19 impacts on low-income families in the Philippines. https://www.worldbank.org.