The thousands of smallholder farmers across Nepal facing the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions imposed by the government in early 2021 to curb the spread of the virus.
Article continues below
Given that they are subsistence farmers who depend on their crops and livestock to meet their family’s daily nutritional needs—leaving little, if any surplus for sale—a reduction in crop production due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns directly impacts their food security.
That means, 68% of households that depend on agriculture in Nepal will face severe consequences as a result of COVID-19, making it a critical issue for policy makers.
Now a new phone survey of 1,186 farming households in Nepal by the World Bank’s Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) team—part of an impact evaluation of the Food and Nutrition Security Enhancement Project (FANSEP)—shows the impact of COVID-19-related disruptions on smallholder farmers’ crop cultivation in the summer of 2021.
FANSEP, funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) trust fund, has been providing smallholder farming communities in the hills and Terai regions of Nepal, knowledge and assets on new cropping techniques to improve agricultural productivity and nutrition practices, and build overall climate resilience.
5% percent of smallholder farmers reported being unable to plant their main cereal crop—paddy in Terai and maize or millet in the hills—during the summer of 2021 for reasons including lack of family labor, availability of land to cultivate, and the inability to purchase quality seed.
47% of large landowners reported that they cultivated less area for the main cereal crop than in the previous year. This number was lower for smallholder farmers at 31%.
Among the farmers who did cultivate crops, 9% reported making changes to their crop planting behavior due to COVID-19-related restrictions, including social distancing, hand washing, and the usage of masks when planting crops.
Some farmers reported not planting vegetables due to an inability to sell their crops at the market. They switched back to planting cereals.
16% of farmers reported not having sufficient labor to cultivate their land, with most of the affected farmers attributing this to COVID-19 related movement restrictions. Some farmers stopped hiring day laborers from neighboring villages, and preferred to cultivate their plots with family labor or those from their own village to comply with social distancing rules. ■
A trailing cold front in connection with a low pressure system currently moving east across the Great Lakes toward New England will bring a chance of rain into the eastern U.S. on this first day of November following an exceptionally dry October for this part of the country.