Global impact of COVID-19 on agriculture: role of sustainable agriculture and digital farming

Abstract

The rise and spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created an imbalance in all sectors worldwide, massively disrupting the global economy. Social distancing, quarantine regulations, and strict travel restrictions have led to a major reduction in the workforce and loss of jobs across all industrial sectors. One of the sectors completely exposed was the agriculture and food sector. The initiation of a nationwide lockdown by the government resulted in the shutdown of industries globally impacting the overall supply chain from farmer to consumer. The need of the hour is to propose effective solutions which can serve the dual purpose of market growth as well as customer satisfaction. This paper reviews the impact of COVID-19 on the agro-food system and its economy stressing critical factors like food production, demand, price hikes, security, and supply chain resilience. To conserve natural resources and meet the sustainable development goals (SDG), importance has been given to adopting sustainable agricultural practices with a prime focus on techniques like urban agriculture, crop rotation, hydroponics, and family farming. Possible advancements like the use of digital tools, mainly artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and block-chain technology, in the agro-food sector have been discussed as they could be a promising tool to develop a self-reliant society. This work would be a perfect platform to understand the growing impact of the pandemic as well as supporting cost-effective solutions for a green ecosystem.

Does Cleaner Household Energy Promote Agricultural Green Production? Evidence from China

“…AS significantly enhances AGPLs, and AS not only increases the capital element of AGP but also increases agricultural hedging of agricultural risk and increases AGP willingness [ 26 ]. In addition, AD and COVID-19 increase the difficulty and uncertainty of household production decisions, hence AD and COVID-19 significantly reduce AGPLs [ 53 , 54 ]. Finally, NAPI can increase AGPLs by alleviating the financial constraints on household participation in AGP.…”

Global Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

“…During a pandemic, everyone is thinking about the loss in business such as hotels, airlines, and income sources [45]. The purchaser assumes that farmers are doing good.…”

Socio-Economic Structure Consolidation of Rural Areas

“…If we refer to the cultivated agricultural areas, they are in an increasing trend, the most cultivated development region in Romania being SOUTH-MUNTENIA with an area of 1,891,769 ha in 2019, and at the opposite pole being the BUCHAREST region -ILFOV with 63,561 ha in 2019, the area being continuously decreasing due to the large number of people whose field of activity focuses on digital work, and another determining factor being the massive sale of arable land in the peripheral areas of the area. The rise and spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has created an imbalance in all sectors worldwide, massively disrupting the global economy (Sridhar et al, 2022). The impact created by the COVID-19 pandemic triggered this year.…”