Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Impact of Covid-19 is multidimensional on smallscale farmers: disruption of farming activities like planting or harvests, lack of labor for farming due to return of migrant laborers to their native villages, supply chain disruption (where farmers cannot take their produce to the markets due to lockdown restrictions on transport, markets, people), loss of jobs and declning demand for and affordability to buy food and other commodities, the fear and risk of infection by covid-19 in crowded market places, lack of on-farm storage that leads to spoilage of perishable vegetables and fruits after harvest as well as milk, disrupted support services like input retailers, farm machine services, seeds, and fertilizers and pesticides. Rural households also lack clean water and toilets for minimum hygiene. It's a very difficult period and a testing time for all smallholder farmers, daily wage earners, landless laborers, small traders/collectors, women, and children. Targeted external support is critical to relieve the painful impacts of covid-19 for all rural households, farmers or otherwise.

National and local governments, cooperatives, NGOs, and the private sector actors must come together to help the farmers and others in the following areas: (1) raising the covid-19 awareness among the local population and assistance on how and where to get treatment and prevent the spread of the disease; (2) improving the organization and distribution of food and financial aids to the people in need by various groups; (3) ensuring supply of seeds and other farming inputs as well as support services to farmers; (4) revamping processing and post-harvest management facilities and distribution avenues for food and other commodities by enabling marketing avenues and transport facilities; (5) improving the access to finance/credit for farming activities; (6) improving clean water, sanitation, and healthcare facilities to all rural residents; and (7) regular communications  and sharing of good practices to manage during the pandemic.