This article examines the short-term effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on food security and nutrition in rural Guatemala. We rely on a comprehensive panel dataset of 1,824 small agricultural households collected over two survey rounds, on November–December 2019 and May–June 2020. We place special emphasis on changes in agricultural and nonagricultural income sources, including remittances, and changes in dietary diversity, including consumption of animal source foods (ASF) and fruits and vegetables (F&V). We find that COVID-19 affected the incomes, food security, and dietary patterns of households, with a decrease in ASF diversity and an increase in F&V diversity, and an overall net decrease in dietary diversity across all food groups. Dietary diversity among women in reproductive age, however, remained unchanged, and increased among children under 2 years old. Interestingly, households with relatively higher incomes appear to have reduced their dietary diversity to a larger extent than lower income ones, as well as households located in communities with more severe access restrictions. The focus of the study in a region with a high prevalence of poverty and chronic malnutrition provides an important perspective into the consequences of the lockdown in complex rural contexts with vulnerable populations and contributes to inform eventual recovery measures.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 对危地马拉农村地区粮食安全和营养的短期影响：基于电话的农户调查证据


本文探讨了 COVID-19 封锁对危地马拉农村地区粮食安全和营养的短期影响。我们依赖于 2019 年 11 月至 12 月和 2020 年 5 月至 6 月两轮调查收集的 1,824 个小农业家庭的综合面板数据集。我们特别重视农业和非农业收入来源的变化，包括汇款以及饮食多样性的变化，包括动物源食品 (ASF) 和水果和蔬菜 (F&V) 的消费。我们发现，COVID-19 影响了家庭的收入、粮食安全和饮食模式，ASF 多样性下降，F&V 多样性增加，所有食物组的饮食多样性总体净下降。然而，育龄妇女的饮食多样性保持不变，而 2 岁以下儿童的饮食多样性有所增加。有趣的是，收入相对较高的家庭似乎比低收入家庭以及位于准入限制更严格的社区的家庭在更大程度上减少了饮食多样性。这项研究的重点是贫困和长期营养不良发生率很高的地区，为了解封锁在复杂的农村环境和弱势群体中造成的后果提供了重要视角，并有助于为最终的恢复措施提供信息。