Quantitative and Qualitative Impact of Corona Pandemic on Livelihoods of Rural Farmers in Bangladesh

Abstract

The rapid transmission and outspread of Corona virus quickly caused a global pandemic. The Corona pandemic and its associated circumscription measures have produced a variety of unexpected disturbances to agricultural and socioeconomic systems around the world. Therefore, the study was conducted at Dumuria and Batiaghata upazila of Khulna district to determine the quantitative and qualitative impact of Corona pandemic on livelihoods of rural farmers in Bangladesh. Data were collected from purposively selected 110 respondents using a pre-tested interview schedule. Highest portion (45.5%) of the respondents were middle aged, 49.1% had secondary level of education and 45.5% had medium sized family. Majority (61.8%) of them had high farming experience, 66.4% had small sized farm and highest portion (48.2%) had medium income. Corona pandemic highly impacted on supply of physical inputs, such as “unavailability of fertilizer in the market”, “unavailability of the required amount of fertilizer for cultivation”, “unavailability of the desired seed variety” while it impacted less on “research activity” in case of agricultural systems. Majority (51.8%) of the respondents had moderately clear perception about impacts of corona pandemic on agricultural systems while 36.4% and 11.8% respondents had partially clear and highly clear perception respectively. Corona pandemic highly impacted on “reduction in income”, “higher family expenditure”, “change in food consumption behavior” and so on while it impacted less on “death of earning member of the family” in case of livelihood activities. Highest portion (55.5%) of the respondents perceived that corona pandemic had moderate impact on their livelihood activities followed by partial impact (44.5%). In case of agricultural production, Corona pandemic lockdown highly impacted on “increased price of agricultural inputs” followed by “increased transportation cost”. But impacted less on “reduction in farmers’ access to market”. Majority (53.6%) of the respondents perceived that Corona pandemic lockdown had moderate impact on agricultural production followed by partial impact (46.4%). In case of magnitude of impact of Corona pandemic, 43.63% respondents considered economic loss as the highest magnitude of impact followed by 41.81% considered the reduction in income and increment of agricultural input cost resulting in higher cost of production. The existing quantitative as well as qualitative impacts of Corona pandemic should be minimized through taking proper initiatives by the concerned authorities to ensure better standard of life of the rural farmers.