Smallholder Farmers' Awareness of COVID-19, Challenges, and Attitude towards Government's Lockdown Strategies in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Smallholder farmers in Pakistan are at the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis as their livelihoods have been disrupted due to a countrywide lockdown. This cross-sectional study was conducted over the duration of two months, April and May 2020, with the aim to assess awareness of smallholder farmers regarding COVID-19, their challenges, and attitude towards governments' lockdown strategies in Pakistan. The sample was composed of 384 cotton-wheat smallholder farmers from 1,403 villages of Bahawalnagar, Layyah, and Toba Tek Singh districts of Punjab province. Due to travel restrictions, a telephonic survey was conducted, and data were collected through a semi-structured interview schedule. The instrument contained both open and closed-ended questions and Likert scale items. Results revealed that the vast majority of the smallholder farmers was highly aware of the coronavirus disease, and they had positive attitudes towards the government lockdown strategies. However, some farmers were also facing great challenges in access to farm inputs, unavailability of farm laborers, high prices, and selling their farm produce in the market due to lockdown, which resulted in a drop of their crop incomes and lower food consumption. There remains a dire need to support them in the current crisis and address their challenges.