Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Security and Agriculture in Iran: A Survey

Abstract

The consequences of COVID-19 on the economy and agriculture have raised many concerns about global food security, especially in developing countries. Given that food security is a critical component that is affected by global crises, beside the limited studies carried out on the macro-impacts of COVID-19 on food security in Iran, this paper is an attempt to address the dynamic impacts of COVID-19 on food security along with economic and environmental challenges in Iran. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with the hypothesis that COVID-19 has not affected food security in Iran. To address this fundamental hypothesis, we applied the systematic review method to obtain the evidence. Various evidences, including indices and statistics, were collected from national databases, scientific reports, field observations, and interviews. Preliminary results revealed that COVID-19 exerts its effects on the economy, agriculture, and food security of Iran through six major mechanisms, corresponding to a 30% decrease in the purchasing power parity in 2020 beside a significant increase in food prices compared to 2019. On the other hand, the expanding environmental constraints in Iran reduce the capacity of the agricultural sector to play a crucial role in the economy and ensure food security, and in this regard, COVID-19 forces the national programs and budget to combat rising ecological limitations. Accordingly, our study rejects the hypothesis that COVID-19 has not affected food security in Iran.

Disruptions to agricultural activities, income loss and food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from farm households in a developing country

“…A qualitative data analysis revealed that similar to elsewhere in the world ( Nchanji et al. , 2021; Rad et al. , 2021; Schmidhuber et al.…”

“…A qualitative data analysis revealed that similar to elsewhere in the world Rad et al, 2021;Schmidhuber et al, 2020;Workie et al, 2020), COVID-19 caused such disruptions to agricultural activities among Vietnamese farm households via many channels, such as (1) travel restrictions/staying-at-home orders → inability to work on farm → output decline; (2) travel restrictions/staying-at-home orders → lack of/less access input; increased farm production costs → output decline; (3) travel restrictions → higher intermediary transaction costs; more (complicated) regulations → inability to sell outputs due to complicated regulation/unprofitability; (4) travel restrictions → customers paying higher prices → lower demand → inability to sell outputs; (5) strict travel restrictions/staying-athome orders in some hot spots → no allowance to transport outputs → inability to sell outputs; (6) travel restrictions (and closure of borders) → inability to do business with traders, especially foreign traders → inability to sell outputs and (7) demand shocks in urban areas (e.g. customers suffering from income loss, informal traders being not allowed to work or closure of public establishments such as schools and restaurants) → lower demand for agricultural products → inability to sell outputs.…”

“…, 2020; Nchanji et al. , 2021; Rad et al. , 2021), and that income loss would cause food insecurity (Cañari-Casaño et al.…”

“…, 2021), and that income loss would cause food insecurity (Cañari-Casaño et al. , 2021; Rad et al. , 2021; Yassin et al.…”

COVID-19 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Scenario analysis through fuzzy cognitive map modeling

“…Research shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected food security in Iran ( Rad et al, 2021 ) and worldwide ( Niles et al, 2021 , Sereenonchai and Arunrat, 2021 ). Strategy B ( Sustainable food systems ) concentrates on providing a sufficient food supply for the whole population in Iran, aiming at providing access for all people to healthy food and nutrients, which can be achieved by providing the required financial support and subsidies as well as strengthening the food supply chain in this country.…”