Drivers of farmers' success during the first wave of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the analysis of the sources of competitiveness in the group of small farmers during the first wave of COVID-19. The aim is to reveal the drivers of farmer's success under introduced institutional measures. In particular, the paper addresses the following research questions Does the group of small farmers catch up the opportunity to enhance their business? What are the sources of farmers' success? The results show that almost two third of interviewees were affected by the first wave of COVID-19 in the production and sale. The farmers faced problems with delivery of inputs, hiring labour inputs, increased sanitary requirements, limited or functionless some marketing channels and the ban on foreign trade. On the other hand, the analysis revealed that the costumers increased their demand on local and higher quality food. Moreover, farmers introduced several business innovations, such as the introduction of online payment methods and online technologies in the sale. Furthermore, they were pushed to speed up the prepared investments projects. These activities helped to increase the sales during the first wave of the COVID-19 and might represent drivers of success in their future business.