Immediate impact of COVID-19 pandemic on farming systems in Central America and Mexico,Agricultural Systems

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Immediate impact of COVID-19 pandemic on farming systems in Central America and Mexico
Agricultural Systems ( IF 6.1 ) Pub Date : 2021-05-18 , DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103178
Santiago Lopez-Ridaura ₁ , Arie Sanders ₂ , Luis Barba-Escoto ₁ , Jennifer Wiegel ₃ , Maria Mayorga-Cortes ₄ , Carlos Gonzalez-Esquivel ₅ , Martin A Lopez-Ramirez ₆ , Rene M Escoto-Masis ₇ , Edmundo Morales-Galindo ₈ , Tomas S García-Barcena ₉

Affiliation

CONTEXT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all sectors and human activities around the World.

OBJECTIVE

In this article we present a first attempt to understand the immediate impact of COVID-19 and the sanitary measures taken by governments on farming systems in Central America and Mexico (CAM).

METHODS

Through a review of information generated in these initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic (webinars, blogs, electronic publications, media) and 44 interviews with key informants across the region, we have identified the main impacts felt by different types of farming systems in the region.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

From corporate agricultural production systems, to small and medium scale entrepreneurs and smallholder subsistence farm households, all types of farming systems were impacted, more or less severely, by the different measures implemented by governments such as reduced mobility, closure of public and private venues and restrictions in borders. Larger corporate farming systems with vertical market integration and high level of control or coordination within the supply chain, and smallholder or subsistence farming systems with important focus on production for self-consumption and little external input use, were both relatively less impacted and showed greater adaptive capacity than the medium and small entrepreneurial farming systems dependent on agriculture as their primary income and with less control over the upstream and downstream parts of their supply chain. All types of farming systems implemented a series of mechanisms to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic including the development of alternative value chains, food and agricultural products delivery systems and the exponential use of digital means to communicate and maintain the viability of the different agricultural systems. Collective action and organization of farmers also proved to be an important coping mechanism that allowed some farmers to acquire inputs and deliver outputs in the context of restricted mobility, price volatility, and general uncertainty. Some features of the CAM region played an important role in mediating the impact of COVID-19 and associated sanitary measures. We identify as particularly relevant the nature of agricultural exports, the current structure of the agricultural sector, the diversified livelihood strategies of rural households, and the importance of mobility for rural livelihoods.

SIGNIFICANCE

The results presented focus only in the immediate effect of COVID-19 pandemic and the mechanisms implemented by farmers in the first months. Whether these impacts and response mechanisms will result in a transformation of the farming systems towards greater resilience and sustainability is still an open question.

中文翻译：

COVID-19 大流行对中美洲和墨西哥农业系统的直接影响

语境

COVID-19 大流行影响了世界各地的所有部门和人类活动。

客观的

在本文中，我们首次尝试了解 COVID-19 的直接影响以及政府对中美洲和墨西哥 (CAM) 农业系统采取的卫生措施。

方法

通过审查 COVID-19 大流行最初几个月产生的信息（网络研讨会、博客、电子出版物、媒体）以及对该地区主要信息提供者的 44 次采访，我们确定了不同类型的农业系统在该区域。

结果和结论

从企业农业生产系统到中小型企业家和小农自给农户，所有类型的农业系统都或多或少受到政府实施的不同措施的影响，例如减少流动性、关闭公共和私人场所以及边界限制。具有垂直市场整合和供应链内高度控制或协调的大型企业农业系统，以及重点关注自我消费生产和很少外部投入使用的小农或自给农业系统，与依赖农业作为主要收入且对其供应链上下游部分的控制较少的中小型创业型农业系统相比，它们受到的影响相对较小，但表现出更强的适应能力。所有类型的农业系统都实施了一系列机制来应对 COVID-19 大流行，包括替代价值链、食品和农产品交付系统的发展以及数字手段的指数级使用，以交流和维持不同农业系统的生存能力. 农民的集体行动和组织也被证明是一种重要的应对机制，使一些农民能够在流动性受限、价格波动和普遍不确定的情况下获得投入并交付产出。CAM 地区的某些特征在调节 COVID-19 和相关卫生措施的影响方面发挥了重要作用。我们认为农产品出口的性质、农业部门的当前结构、农村家庭多样化的生计策略以及流动性对农村生计的重要性尤为重要。