Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Like many other sectors, agricultural production has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. Farmers and workers in rural areas in developing countries live with low levels of income and scarce access to public services so disasters and pandemics increase their vulnerability. Even so, the sector provides an opportunity for economic recovery, given that in countries such as Mexico agriculture grew by up to 20% during 2020. The Agricultural Association of Culiacan River in Mexico has implemented measures to protect and prevent the spread of infection between agricultural workers and sustain their sources of income. Consider the priorities of their recovery approach for the sector:

Maintain agricultural production, livelihoods, and income (Michoacán experience)

• Strengthen the local chains of production and the local partnerships between agricultural and livestock producers and providers. In Michoacán, products that were mainly export-oriented are also being sold at the local level through the coordination of local farmers and governments
• Implement subsidies at the local and state levels to protect small and medium-sized producers against increases in the price of inputs (e.g. farming equipment), particularly given the increased demand for such inputs during the recovery stages
• Take advantage of existing local, regional, and international treaties and agreements that facilitate commerce and the exchange of products. In the absence of such arrangements, governments and financial institutions should provide financial guarantees to enable small producers to participate in these markets in the medium term

Protect the health and safety of agricultural workers and farmers. Increase preventive measures (Sinaloa experience)

• Supply PPE to agricultural workers and increase sanitization measures in agricultural facilities
• Implement sanitization protocols for the pickup and transport of workers to the field and back to their residency
• Identify workers at risk because of previous health conditions, or because of dangerous working environments. Identify and prevent children and young teenagers from working in the fields

This case study, written by Eduardo Robles Chavez and the Manchester Briefing team, presents examples of effective vulnerability mapping during COVID-19 in New Zealand and Wales, contrasting these with Mexico and Chile where mapping focused only on infection rates. Read this case study by following the source link below (p.13-16)

Latin America benefits from vast access to natural resources, however many people living in rural areas have limited access to locally produced food and rely heavily on imported goods. The fragilities in food supply chains were exacerbated by COVID-19, which left people at risk of not being able to meet their immediate food needs. Recovery and renewal provides an opportunity to support Latin Americas rural agricultural sector to renew its practices, promote community health and resilience, and contribute to achieving environmental sustainability. Consider the actions proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for COVID-19 recovery and renewal:

Transform food production

• Finance and support the production of a diverse range of agricultural products. Invest in multi-crop programs together with small and medium producers
• Reduce food waste by providing access to locally produced food and resources
• Prioritise local consumption and distribution of agricultural products over exports
• Promote the adoption of healthy diets with local produce through voluntary information groups, labelling policies, eating healthy campaigns, and fiscal incentives to schools that purchase local produce

Rural development

• Provide quality education and skills-training to the rural agricultural sector
• Establish sustainable practices in the agricultural sector, that recognize the diversity of the ecosystem and the cultural and traditional practices or its habitants
• Increase the infrastructure for public services and connect with urban areas. This can help to reduce rural vulnerability and enables producers to access urban markets for their products

Sustainable agriculture

• Promote water conservation and soil maintenance practices
• Protect the ecosystem by delimiting conservation areas outside of agricultural practices
• Implement early warning systems and risk reduction programmes focused on local hazards

Research by University College London (UCL) suggests that confidence in understanding coronavirus lockdown restrictions varies greatly across the UK and has dropped significantly since early national measures were put in place in March. As part of their ongoing research UCL determine that people generally consider themselves compliant with restrictions, but UCL caution that this should be interpreted in light of previous reports that show understanding of guidelines are low; therefore possibly reflecting belief in compliance opposed to actual compliance levels. Consider how to ensure residents in lock areas understand the rules that apply to them:

• Make direct contact with resident via social or traditional media, messaging apps, or leafleting through doors to ensure people understand their local restrictions. This may be especially important in combined authority areas as restrictions differ across metropolitan boroughs, the boundaries of which may not be clear to residents
• Encourage the display of digital tools showing local information about which restrictions apply in certain areas. This may be a simple video, or an interactive tool which people could access through localised digital marketing on their smartphones
• Consider where local, clear information could be publicly displayed e.g. digital advertising boards at local bus stops, or localised social media and television adverts
• Consider the demographics, resources and capacities of each community to establish the most appropriate methods of dissemination and key actors who could support this. In Mexico, this included: Video and audio messages shared via WhatsApp; audio messages transmitted via loudspeakers; and banners in strategic locations

Accelerating the use of online digital tools for improved resilience and pandemic preparedness is important for reducing the risk of transmission of the virus, for reaching a wider audience, and for sharing best practice more effectively.

However, when digitizing activities, it is important to consider those who may not have online access due to remoteness, digital illiteracy, and/or the costs of (smart)phones and mobile data, and to ensure important information still reaches these communities. This may be done by adapting activities into written or picture format, or providing necessary resources or training. Consider raising awareness of activities, training, and ways of organising the community:

• Raising awareness:
  • Conduct face-to-face health and hazard awareness programmes through infographics, podcasts, and videos on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter
  • Use platforms that provide health advice about COVID-19 to raise awareness of other diseases that may have similar symptom e.g. influenza, dengue etc.
  • Use online community engagement as an opportunity to raise awareness about other risks, and resilience strategies e.g. flooding
• Training:
  • Establish 'community brigades' that can help prepare the community for emergency situations - educate and train them by creating and sharing instructional videos
  • Share podcasts promoting COVID-19 safety measures with local leaders and authorities, who play them on loudspeakers in the community
• Organising the community:
  • Develop virtual community networks that support the community to organise themselves, working with local leaders, authorities, schoolteachers etc. who can disseminate information widely
  • Conduct regular follow-up calls with community leaders to create feedback channels and to help monitor local situations

The transfer of diseases such as COVID-19, avian influenza and swine flu can occur in agriculture and food production sectors. This can be facilitated by the rapid industrialization of meat production and poor biosecurity. Consider:

• increased monitoring of agricultural production as 'big farms create big flu'
• careful monitoring of wild animal sales; simply banning such practices may only drive markets underground and reduce visibility
• disease mitigation measures on farming practices of vulnerable populations. In the avian influenza outbreak, poultry from 'backyard chicken' producers were slaughtered compulsorily in huge numbers which caused devastating impacts on livelihoods across southeast Asia
• affordable measures for smaller farmers to meet food and agricultural standards, and consideration that if you remove their livelihoods, they will likely become more susceptible to current disease or new zoonotic diseases as a result of wild animal sale or consumption

To get important development done, stimulate the economy, take advantage of quieter city centres, and save jobs.

Reference: Chief Resilience Officers in Greece, Australia and Mexico