An Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Agri-Food System in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic impacts have arguable been more pronounced in the developing world, such as the Small Island States (SIDS) of the Caribbean, where a plethora of geophysical and socio-political factors have led to increased vulnerability, particularly in fragile sectors such as agriculture. The pandemic added another layer of complexity to the unstable agri-food systems of SIDS in the Caribbean. Measures to contain the unfolding crisis have tremendously disrupted food systems by threatening the production, distribution, and marketing of commodities which exposed the frailty of the region's food security. Caribbean SIDS are highly dependent on food imports and relies on international markets to secure food. Many are also dependent on agricultural exports and have a large portion of their population involved in agriculture making them particularly vulnerable to the rigors of the pandemic. Export restrictions on foodstuff and prohibitions due to lockdowns and border closures further exacerbated these challenges. Additionally, food and nutrition security in the region is also subjected to the effects of climate change and climate-related disasters. Dealing with the impacts of co-occurring disasters is, therefore, an ever-present threat. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on the agri-food supply in the Caribbean. It also identified measures and initiatives adopted to cope with these disruptive consequences. The study involves the use of internet-based surveys and focus group discussions and internet-based surveys with stakeholders and online searches for related literature. A total of 96 farmers, 60 food distributors, 84 food service operators, and 237 consumers from the region participated in the online survey and 4 focus group discussions between January and November 2021. The results confirmed that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were evident along the entire agri-food supply chain and numerous challenges and shocks were identified across all participating groups and countries. Some challenges and shocks such as loss of income and related challenges including lower sales and loss of markets affected all groups in the study but to varying degrees and based on socio-demographic factors. In general people of lower income status and smaller businesses were more susceptible to the negative impacts of the pandemic.

Assessment of consumers’ knowledge, attitude and perception of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household food security in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

“…These factors were also likely to affect consumers food purchasing behavior, meal preparation and eating habits. Several reports and commentaries suggested that the pandemic impacted food dynamics in the Caribbean region and an understanding of this among consumers is critical to developing approaches toward achieving food and nutrition security (Blazy et al, 2021;CARICOM et al, 2021;Marshall et al, 2021;Daley et al, 2022). The Caribbean COVID-19 Food Security and Livelihoods Impact Survey reported that food insecurity remains a concern, with many consumers having to reduce their food consumption and average household food stocks continued to decrease (CARICOM et al, 2021).…”

“…This could be due to the fact that although measures were put in place to protect public health which resulted in reduced economic activity with negative impacts on production, distribution and consumption, there was a surge in e-commerce and accelerated digital transformation (Deconinck et al, 2020;Sneader and Singhal, 2021). Although it is true that negative effects were not felt equally across all sociodemographic categories and some persons were more vulnerable than others, the overall pictures point to a region were consumers responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways to maintain their household food security (Daley et al, 2022). Recent studies showed that panic buying, food hoarding, and home gardening were some of the activities that increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic and may have increased consumer knowledge of the dimensions of food security (Blazy et al, 2021;Daley et al, 2022).…”

Water resource sustainability: Challenges, opportunities and research gaps in the English-speaking Caribbean Small Island Developing States

“…SIDS generally have limited land masses and small populations. They suffer from remoteness from international markets, high transportation costs, vulnerability to exogenous economic shocks and fragile land and marine ecosystems [7,8].…”

The double burden of COVID-19 and a major volcanic eruption on local food production and food security in a Small Island Developing State

“…This was consistent across groups in relation to age, gender, education, and household size and was linked to challenges such as decrease in job hours and loss of job. Income related challenges and shocks associated with COVID-19 are widely reported globally, with several studies highlighting the impacts across sectors (Béné, 2020;Iese et al, 2021;Daley et al, 2022). However, data from the interviews indicated that apart from lessened job hours and loss of jobs due to market decrease or closure, some chose to forego employment due to vaccine hesitancy.…”