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Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has globally jeopardized food security, with heightened threats for the most vulnerable including smallholder farmers as well as rural, indigenous populations. A serial cross-sectional study was conducted to document effect of COVID-19 pandemic on food environment, agricultural...

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Autores principales: Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna, Kapoor, Ridhima, Dhasmana, Ayushi, Singh, Archna, Downs, Shauna, Ahmed, Selena
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7612736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35586613
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.724321
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author Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna
Kapoor, Ridhima
Dhasmana, Ayushi
Singh, Archna
Downs, Shauna
Ahmed, Selena
author_facet Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna
Kapoor, Ridhima
Dhasmana, Ayushi
Singh, Archna
Downs, Shauna
Ahmed, Selena
author_sort Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has globally jeopardized food security, with heightened threats for the most vulnerable including smallholder farmers as well as rural, indigenous populations. A serial cross-sectional study was conducted to document effect of COVID-19 pandemic on food environment, agricultural practices, diets and food security, along with potential determinants of food systems resilience, among vulnerable smallholder farmer households in indigenous communities of Santhal, Munda, and Sauria Paharia of Jharkhand state, India. Telephonic household surveys were conducted in two phases i.e., lockdown and unlock phase to assess the impact of the pandemic on their food systems and agricultural practices. Market surveys were conducted during the unlock phase, to understand the impact on local informal markets. Secondary data on state and district level food production and Government food security programs were also reviewed. For data analysis purpose, a conceptual framework was developed which delineated possible pathways of impact of COVID-19 pandemic on food environment, food security and food consumption patterns along with factors that may offer resilience. Our findings revealed adverse effects on food production and access among all three communities, due to restrictions in movement of farm labor and supplies, along with disruptions in food supply chains and other food-related logistics and services associated with the pandemic and mitigation measures. The pandemic significantly impacted the livelihoods and incomes among all three indigenous communities during both lockdown and unlock phases, which were attributed to a reduction in sale of agricultural produce, distress selling at lower prices and reduced opportunity for daily wage laboring. A significant proportion of respondents also experienced changes in dietary intake patterns. Key determinants of resilience were identified; these included accessibility to agricultural inputs like indigenous seeds, labor available at household level due to back migration and access to diverse food environments, specifically the wild food environment. There is a need for programs and interventions to conserve and revitalize the bio-cultural resources available within these vulnerable indigenous communities and build resilient food systems that depend on shorter food supply chains and utilize indigenous knowledge systems and associated resources, thereby supporting healthy, equitable and sustainable food systems for all.
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spelling pubmed-76127362022-05-17 Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna Kapoor, Ridhima Dhasmana, Ayushi Singh, Archna Downs, Shauna Ahmed, Selena Front Sustain Food Syst Article The COVID-19 pandemic has globally jeopardized food security, with heightened threats for the most vulnerable including smallholder farmers as well as rural, indigenous populations. A serial cross-sectional study was conducted to document effect of COVID-19 pandemic on food environment, agricultural practices, diets and food security, along with potential determinants of food systems resilience, among vulnerable smallholder farmer households in indigenous communities of Santhal, Munda, and Sauria Paharia of Jharkhand state, India. Telephonic household surveys were conducted in two phases i.e., lockdown and unlock phase to assess the impact of the pandemic on their food systems and agricultural practices. Market surveys were conducted during the unlock phase, to understand the impact on local informal markets. Secondary data on state and district level food production and Government food security programs were also reviewed. For data analysis purpose, a conceptual framework was developed which delineated possible pathways of impact of COVID-19 pandemic on food environment, food security and food consumption patterns along with factors that may offer resilience. Our findings revealed adverse effects on food production and access among all three communities, due to restrictions in movement of farm labor and supplies, along with disruptions in food supply chains and other food-related logistics and services associated with the pandemic and mitigation measures. The pandemic significantly impacted the livelihoods and incomes among all three indigenous communities during both lockdown and unlock phases, which were attributed to a reduction in sale of agricultural produce, distress selling at lower prices and reduced opportunity for daily wage laboring. A significant proportion of respondents also experienced changes in dietary intake patterns. Key determinants of resilience were identified; these included accessibility to agricultural inputs like indigenous seeds, labor available at household level due to back migration and access to diverse food environments, specifically the wild food environment. There is a need for programs and interventions to conserve and revitalize the bio-cultural resources available within these vulnerable indigenous communities and build resilient food systems that depend on shorter food supply chains and utilize indigenous knowledge systems and associated resources, thereby supporting healthy, equitable and sustainable food systems for all. 2022-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC7612736/ /pubmed/35586613 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.724321 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Article
Ghosh-Jerath, Suparna
Kapoor, Ridhima
Dhasmana, Ayushi
Singh, Archna
Downs, Shauna
Ahmed, Selena
Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study
title Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Systems and Determinants of Resilience in Indigenous Communities of Jharkhand State, India: A Serial Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort effect of covid-19 pandemic on food systems and determinants of resilience in indigenous communities of jharkhand state, india: a serial cross-sectional study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7612736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35586613
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.724321
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