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Response and resilience of Asian agrifood systems to COVID-19: An assessment across twenty-five countries and four regional farming and food systems

Dixon JM 1 , Weerahewa J 2 , Hellin J 3 , Rola-Rubzen MF 4 , Huang J 5 , Kumar S 6 Show all authors , Das A 7 , Qureshi ME 8 , Krupnik TJ 9 , Shideed K 10 , Jat ML 11 , Prasad PVV 12 , Yadav S 3 , Irshad A 13 , Asanaliev A 14 , Abugalieva A 15 , Karimov A 16 , Bhattarai B 17 , Balgos CQ 18 , Benu F 19 , Ehara H 20 , Pant J 21 , Sarmiento JMP 4 , Newby JC 22 , Pretty J 23 , Tokuda H 24 , Weyerhaeuser H 25 , Digal LN 18 , Li L 26 , Sarkar MAR 27 , Abedin MZ 9 , Schreinemachers P 28 , Grafton Q 1 , Sharma RC 29 , Saidzoda S 30 , Lopez-Ridaura S 31 , Coffey S 32 , Kam SP 33 , Win SS 34 , Praneetvatakul S 35 , Maraseni T 36 , Touch V 37 , Liang WL 38 , Saharawat YS 39 , Timsina J 40

Affiliations 

  • 1 Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • 2 Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
  • 3 Sustainable Impact Platform, International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines
  • 4 School of Agriculture and Environment, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  • 5 Peking University, Beijing, China
  • 6 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
  • 7 Indian Council of Agricultural Research Research Complex for North-Eastern Hill Region, Tripura, India
  • 8 Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
  • 9 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 10 Sustainable Agricultural Development and Food Security, Amman, Jordan
  • 11 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, New Delhi, India
  • 12 Department of Agronomy, Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
  • 13 Food and Agriculture Organisation, Islamabad, Pakistan
  • 14 Kyrgyz National Agrarian University, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
  • 15 Kazakh Research Institute of Agriculture and Plant Growing, Almaty, Kazakhstan
  • 16 Regional Office for Central Asia and the South Caucasus, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Uzbekistan
  • 17 Institute for Study and Development Worldwide, Sydney, Australia
  • 18 University of the Philippines Mindanao, Davao City, Philippines
  • 19 Nusa Cendana University, Kupang, Indonesia
  • 20 International Center for Research and Education in Agriculture, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
  • 21 WorldFish, Batu Maung, Penang, Malaysia
  • 22 Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Vientiane, Laos
  • 23 School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
  • 24 Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
  • 25 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand
  • 26 Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
  • 27 Agricultural Economics Division, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh
  • 28 World Vegetable Center, East and Southeast Asia, Kasetsart, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 29 International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
  • 30 The Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Dushanbe, Tajikistan
  • 31 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, El Batan, Mexico
  • 32 Crawford Fund, Canberra, Australia
  • 33 18, Lorong Geh Chong Keat, Tanjung Bungah, 11200 Penang, Malaysia
  • 34 Department of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Yezin, Myanmar
  • 35 Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 36 University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia
  • 37 University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • 38 Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, China
  • 39 International Fertilizer Development Centre, New Delhi, India
  • 40 Global Evergreening Alliance, Melbourne, Australia
Agric Syst, 2021 Oct;193:103168.
PMID: 36284566 DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103168

Abstract

CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting health and economies across the world, although the nature of direct and indirect effects on Asian agrifood systems and food security has not yet been well understood.

OBJECTIVES: This paper assesses the initial responses of major farming and food systems to COVID-19 in 25 Asian countries, and considers the implications for resilience, food and nutrition security and recovery policies by the governments.

METHODS: A conceptual systems model was specified including key pathways linking the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 to the resilience and performance of the four principal Asian farming and food systems, viz, lowland rice based; irrigated wheat based; hill mixed; and dryland mixed systems. Based on this framework, a systematic survey of 2504 key informants (4% policy makers, 6% researchers or University staff, 6% extension workers, 65% farmers, and 19% others) in 20 Asian countries was conducted and the results assessed and analysed.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The principal Asian farming and food systems were moderately resilient to COVID-19, reinforced by government policies in many countries that prioritized food availability and affordability. Rural livelihoods and food security were affected primarily because of disruptions to local labour markets (especially for off-farm work), farm produce markets (notably for perishable foods) and input supply chains (i.e., seeds and fertilisers). The overall effects on system performance were most severe in the irrigated wheat based system and least severe in the hill mixed system, associated in the latter case with greater resilience and diversification and less dependence on external inputs and long market chains. Farming and food systems' resilience and sustainability are critical considerations for recovery policies and programmes, especially in relation to economic performance that initially recovered more slowly than productivity, natural resources status and social capital. Overall, the resilience of Asian farming and food systems was strong because of inherent systems characteristics reinforced by public policies that prioritized staple food production and distribution as well as complementary welfare programmes. With the substantial risks to plant- and animal-sourced food supplies from future zoonoses and the institutional vulnerabilities revealed by COVID-19, efforts to improve resilience should be central to recovery programmes.

SIGNIFICANCE: This study was the first Asia-wide systems assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on agriculture and food systems, differentiating the effects of the pandemic across the four principal regional farming and food systems in the region.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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