ISLAMABAD: The lockdown due to COVID-19 coupled with severe locust invasions in Sindh province significantly disrupted food supply chains across all major agricultural products, said a survey report issued by Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday.
The survey findings outline policy measures that can help farmers cope and adapt to the long-term consequences of the pandemic and locust swarms that affect farm households and agricultural produce.
The survey of farmers in Sindh revealed that COVID-19 and locust swarms had a significant impact on the livelihoods they obtained through agricultural products, including wheat, vegetables, fruits, and dairy products.
Tomato farmers faced especially acute difficulties, with the majority choosing not to harvest their crop, the report added.
The challenges most often cited were the farmers’ inability to travel to markets and cities and the unavailability of traders to purchase the crops.
The report said most respondents faced challenges related to farming activities. Respondents from Lower Sindh were more prone to disruptions in their procurement of fertilizer, pesticides, diesel fuel, and machinery.
The increased prices of farm inputs, especially seeds, was commonly cited. Three-quarters of respondents reported increased financial difficulties because of these challenges.
Almost all respondents from Upper Sindh reported locust swarms, with over a third of Lower Sindh respondents stating they had also been affected. Upper and Lower Sindh respondents reported an almost universal lack of government response as a
source of information about the swarms or relief in the form of surveys and spraying.
The market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its related policy measures are temporary.
The government needs to monitor and ensure the functioning of market activities and the availability of agricultural inputs, as requested by farmers, the report added.
The locust swarms may require action to both mitigate the damage already caused and to invest in long-term means to help farmers and communities prepare for future locust swarms.
Respondents were asked to suggest and rank in order of preference the following series of policy measures, which they felt government should take include “ensure timely supply of agricultural inputs”, “ensure price stability for agricultural produce”, “ease loan repayment conditions or waive loans”, “remove restrictions on marketing in districts beyond where the produce was raised”, and other policy measures.
Among respondents, the largest number (97.1%) cited the need to ensure timely supply of agricultural inputs, followed by the need to ensure price stability for agricultural produce (96.8%), and then the need to either ease loan repayment conditions or write off loans (80.7%).
About 68.8% of respondents identified equally the needs to remove restrictions on the supply of agricultural inputs and to allow the marketing of agricultural produce in districts other than the farmers’ home district. About half of respondents (50.7%) suggested other policy measures.
The index is based on the proportion of total respondents who identified a policy measure for government action and the priority they assigned to the suggested policy measure.
The COVID-19 outbreak affected various channels of Pakistan’s economy, slowing it down; consequently, the country’s provisional growth of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019–2020 is estimated at –0.4%, with agriculture the only sector showing positive growth, at 2.7%.
Furthermore, in Pakistan, locust swarms emerged first in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces and then in Sindh and Southern Punjab.
