Shriniwas Gautam, Evidence and Learning Associate at the Pulte Institute, recently published a peer-reviewed article titled “COVID-19 disruption in agricultural input supply and impact on food security in Nepal,” in co-authorship with Prabin Dongol, Narayan P. Khanal, Abdurahman Beshir, and Dyutiman Choudhary, researchers and partners at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Nepal. Their article appeared in the Tropical Agriculture journal published by the The University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.
Using data from a key informant survey conducted in 2020, the article assesses the extent of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in Nepal on the availability and access of agricultural inputs and the impact on agricultural production and food security.
Gautam et al. fill a gap in scholarship, as knowledge around COVID-19’s impact on agricultural communities in Nepal is limited. Their study assesses the immediate effects of COVID-19 disruptions in the agricultural input supply chain on crop production and food security, specifically focusing on the country’s maize and rice farming communities.
In their study, the authors pursued two objectives. First, estimating the relative ranking of major agricultural input shortages due to COVID-19 disruptions, and, second, comparing the severity of input shortages in 2019 with that in 2020 and their perceived impact on crop production and food security in the surveyed communities.
The authors conclude with four recommendations: giving agriculture a seat at the decision-making level, considering agricultural input and output supply chains as essential services, reducing the vulnerability of import dependence, and capacity building of frontline extension workers and use of digital extension tools (for instance, information and communication technologies-based agricultural extensions, digital agro-finance, and digital input vouchers).
Gautam is an expert in agricultural economics and has expertise in the planning and execution of agricultural and rural development projects. Tropical Agriculture is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes scientific articles concerned with all aspects of crop science, agroecosystem management and conservation.
Article’s full citation:
Gautam, Shriniwas, Prabin Dongol, Narayan P. Khanal, Abdurahman Beshir, and Dyutiman Choudhary. 2023. “COVID-19 Disruption in Agricultural Input Supply and Impact on Food Security in Nepal”. Tropical Agriculture 100 (3):250-62. https://journals.sta.uwi.edu/ojs/index.php/ta/article/view/8420