**10. Farmers' barriers in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming**

The finding in **Figure 8** shows farmers' barriers in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming in the area. The finding reveals that about 99.82% of the farmers identified inadequate information. This could be attributed to the dearth in research on COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategies for rice

accumulates on farms. Similarly, planting and harvesting season is imminent for rice farming and a shortage of labor and poor access to farm credit is leading to production losses and shortages in the market. In Nigeria, this comes on top of as one of the existing difficulties in sourcing rice production labor and finance. Most Nigerian were left unhappy with government selective provision of palliative. Some reports claimed that South-East Nigeria was the study was conducted never receive any form of palliative from the government. This situation left most of the farmers

*Does the Incidence of COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Rice Yield? Lessons from Southeast Nigeria*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93744*

About 78.28% identified lack of trust. Trust is the foundation upon which the legitimacy of public institutions is built and is crucial for maintaining social cohesion [33]. Most farmers do not trust the government and this leads to the farmers believing that the COVID-19 is real. Some believed that the government wants to use the media to embezzle public fund. Similarly, many farmers gloat that COVID-19 is mainly targeting the politicians, despite warnings that the life-threatening respiratory illness could hit the poor farmers as well. Some farmers also hoped that the "selectiveness" of the virus might be God's way of bringing about changes leadership of Nigerian government. During this current COVID-19 pandemic, including containment, mitigation and recovery, trust in public institutions is vital for governments' ability to respond rapidly and to secure citizen support. Government's ability to harness public trust as a force out of the crisis will be crucial for planning and implementing an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 emergency. It is important for the government to show great transparent and accountable leadership for the people to trust. Curbing this barrier will be vital in promoting not just local COVID-19 mitigation strategies in increasing rice yield, farmers' livelihood, farmers' income and

unable to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in their rice farms.

standard of living but global strategies in area and perhaps beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a great effect on the entire rice value chain, confirming in the most terrible way that we are all part of a rice value-chain system that is interconnected and fragile and that solutions must be developed together. Rice farming has been recognized almost worldwide as an essential activity, and farmers were asked to keep on working, even harder, to cope up with this new challenge. Nevertheless, each component of the rice value-chain system has an impact on farming activities, so each bottleneck occurring somewhere on the rice value-chain system is having an impact on farmers livelihood, farm yield, and farm income. Countries lock-down and borders' closures are strongly impacting rice farmers' access to input like seeds, fertilizers, and agrochemicals. In Nigeria, while rice farmers are still battling the negative impact of climate change and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new risk that not only threatens farmers livelihoods but also the most important global food security crop "Rice". Every farming season in Nigeria, rice farmers face risks such as low rainfall, price volatility, methane emissions, rising debts, and poor government policies. But the present risks from the COVID-19 pandemic are putting new challenges in front of rice value-chain that is already under serious threat.

Additionally, the growing demand for rice across SSA and particularly in Nigeria exceeds supply, resulting in a rice deficit. To overcome this challenge, rice yield should be increased particularly now there is new threat for farmers. As a matter of urgency, farmers must respond to this new threat (COVID-19) by choosing measures that increase their yield. Incidentally, empirical studies that documented the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on rice yield cannot be found as at the time of this study. These create emptiness in research and make it extremely difficult if not

**11. Conclusion**

**199**

**Figure 8.** *Farmers' barriers in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming.*

farmers as well as lack of information on clarity on the actionable guidance and precautionary measures by World Health Organization (WHO), Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and local health authority. This constraint left the farmers unable to get the muchneeded information on COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable rice farming. In the present information age, inadequate information could pose serious challenges to the farmers' coping strategies as they may not be aware of recent developments regarding COVID-19 pandemic, mitigation strategies and the necessary readjustments needed. Meanwhile, crop farmers have been badly hit due to misinformation, particularly on social media, that crops and animals are the carriers of COVID-19. Also, poor/inadequate information on COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable strategies for rice farming may rise the food insecurity situation and lead to unsustainable rice production overtime.

Approximately 97.85% complained of the inadequate fund. The inadequate fund left most of the rice farmers unable to get necessary productive resources in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in the area. This could be attributed to the sudden rise of rice productive resources due to lockdown and food shortage. Inadequate fund hinders farmers from getting the necessary resources and technologies which assist to mitigate efficiently to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic mitigation options are costly because of restrictions and input factory closure hence, farmers need adequate fund to adapt. Going forward, poor extension contact, high cost of labor, poor access to farm credit and no-COVID-19 pandemic palliative by the government were complained by 95.20, 93.98, 89.90 and 85.70% respectively of the rice farmers. The high cost of farm inputs could also be attributed to inadequate fund. With the limited fund, the acquisition of necessary production equipment will be difficult. They may not only be costly but may also appear scarce for poor farmers particularly ducting the period of the pandemic. Besides, the farmers may not also have the necessary facilities for information like radio and television to obtain COVID-19 report.

Poor access of credit could be linked to lack of information or awareness of the presence of loan facilities, high collateral and location of banks in urban which is far from the rural areas where farmers live. In the same way, the COVID-19 pandemic related transport restrictions make it particularly difficult for suppliers to get inputs like seeds, fertilizers, crop protection products and equipment to rice farmers in time for planting season, disrupting production of rice. Restrictions are also triggering additional higher labor cost, post-harvest losses, as unsold and rotting food

#### *Does the Incidence of COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Rice Yield? Lessons from Southeast Nigeria DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93744*

accumulates on farms. Similarly, planting and harvesting season is imminent for rice farming and a shortage of labor and poor access to farm credit is leading to production losses and shortages in the market. In Nigeria, this comes on top of as one of the existing difficulties in sourcing rice production labor and finance. Most Nigerian were left unhappy with government selective provision of palliative. Some reports claimed that South-East Nigeria was the study was conducted never receive any form of palliative from the government. This situation left most of the farmers unable to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in their rice farms.

About 78.28% identified lack of trust. Trust is the foundation upon which the legitimacy of public institutions is built and is crucial for maintaining social cohesion [33]. Most farmers do not trust the government and this leads to the farmers believing that the COVID-19 is real. Some believed that the government wants to use the media to embezzle public fund. Similarly, many farmers gloat that COVID-19 is mainly targeting the politicians, despite warnings that the life-threatening respiratory illness could hit the poor farmers as well. Some farmers also hoped that the "selectiveness" of the virus might be God's way of bringing about changes leadership of Nigerian government. During this current COVID-19 pandemic, including containment, mitigation and recovery, trust in public institutions is vital for governments' ability to respond rapidly and to secure citizen support. Government's ability to harness public trust as a force out of the crisis will be crucial for planning and implementing an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 emergency. It is important for the government to show great transparent and accountable leadership for the people to trust. Curbing this barrier will be vital in promoting not just local COVID-19 mitigation strategies in increasing rice yield, farmers' livelihood, farmers' income and standard of living but global strategies in area and perhaps beyond.

## **11. Conclusion**

farmers as well as lack of information on clarity on the actionable guidance and precautionary measures by World Health Organization (WHO), Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and local health authority. This constraint left the farmers unable to get the muchneeded information on COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable rice farming. In the present information age, inadequate information could pose serious challenges to the farmers' coping strategies as they may not be aware of recent developments regarding COVID-19 pandemic, mitigation strategies and the necessary readjustments needed. Meanwhile, crop farmers have been badly hit due to

*Farmers' barriers in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming.*

misinformation, particularly on social media, that crops and animals are the carriers of COVID-19. Also, poor/inadequate information on COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable strategies for rice farming may rise the food insecurity situation and lead to

Approximately 97.85% complained of the inadequate fund. The inadequate fund left most of the rice farmers unable to get necessary productive resources in mitigating the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in the area. This could be attributed to the sudden rise of rice productive resources due to lockdown and food shortage. Inadequate fund hinders farmers from getting the necessary resources and technologies which assist to mitigate efficiently to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic mitigation options are costly because of restrictions and input factory closure hence, farmers need adequate fund to adapt. Going forward, poor extension contact, high cost of labor, poor access to farm credit and no-COVID-19 pandemic palliative by the government were complained by 95.20, 93.98, 89.90 and 85.70% respectively of the rice farmers. The high cost of farm inputs could also be attributed to inadequate fund. With the limited fund, the acquisition of necessary production equipment will be difficult. They may not only be costly but may also appear scarce for poor farmers particularly ducting the period of the pandemic. Besides, the farmers may not also have the necessary facilities for information like

Poor access of credit could be linked to lack of information or awareness of the presence of loan facilities, high collateral and location of banks in urban which is far from the rural areas where farmers live. In the same way, the COVID-19 pandemic related transport restrictions make it particularly difficult for suppliers to get inputs like seeds, fertilizers, crop protection products and equipment to rice farmers in time for planting season, disrupting production of rice. Restrictions are also triggering additional higher labor cost, post-harvest losses, as unsold and rotting food

unsustainable rice production overtime.

**Figure 8.**

*Recent Advances in Rice Research*

**198**

radio and television to obtain COVID-19 report.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a great effect on the entire rice value chain, confirming in the most terrible way that we are all part of a rice value-chain system that is interconnected and fragile and that solutions must be developed together. Rice farming has been recognized almost worldwide as an essential activity, and farmers were asked to keep on working, even harder, to cope up with this new challenge. Nevertheless, each component of the rice value-chain system has an impact on farming activities, so each bottleneck occurring somewhere on the rice value-chain system is having an impact on farmers livelihood, farm yield, and farm income. Countries lock-down and borders' closures are strongly impacting rice farmers' access to input like seeds, fertilizers, and agrochemicals. In Nigeria, while rice farmers are still battling the negative impact of climate change and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new risk that not only threatens farmers livelihoods but also the most important global food security crop "Rice". Every farming season in Nigeria, rice farmers face risks such as low rainfall, price volatility, methane emissions, rising debts, and poor government policies. But the present risks from the COVID-19 pandemic are putting new challenges in front of rice value-chain that is already under serious threat.

Additionally, the growing demand for rice across SSA and particularly in Nigeria exceeds supply, resulting in a rice deficit. To overcome this challenge, rice yield should be increased particularly now there is new threat for farmers. As a matter of urgency, farmers must respond to this new threat (COVID-19) by choosing measures that increase their yield. Incidentally, empirical studies that documented the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on rice yield cannot be found as at the time of this study. These create emptiness in research and make it extremely difficult if not

impossible for the government/interest group to know the method they can use in helping farmers mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic in rice production. The study was logically guided by describing the socio-economic characteristics of the rice farmers; determining the awareness of COVID-19 pandemic among rice farmers; identifying farmers sources of information on COVID-19 pandemic; identifying the COVID-19 pandemic precautionary measures farmers are using; ascertaining the perceived effect of COVID-19 pandemic on rice yield and constraints in mitigating COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming.

iii. Rice production-related constraints such as labor and other inputs mainly hindered farmers from mitigating the effect of COVID-19 effectively. Labor and input are in high demand and cost now due to restrictions. Therefore, the government must also design policy in such a way that farmers'should have access to affordable credit, farm labor as well as subsidized input to increase their rice production, the standard of living as

*Does the Incidence of COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Rice Yield? Lessons from Southeast Nigeria*

iv. Effective agricultural policies and programmes should focus on how to intensify awareness on COVID-19 pandemic in rice farm as well as its mitigation strategies. This should be done through strengthened

v. Agricultural extension agents can offer support during uncertainty and sudden changes that come with the pandemic, and strategies to bounce

vi. It is important to protect the community where these rice farmers are

vii. The finding observed that there is distrust between the government and farmers. Farmers do not trust the government on the issue of COVID-19 pandemic. Some farmers still do not believe that there is even COVID-19. Therefore, it is important that the government should show transparent and accountable leadership so as to get full farmers to support in

Constraints on restrictions of movement due to COVID-19 pandemic, the poor transportation network in rural areas, time and limited resources of the researcher forced to select only 504 rural-based rice farmers for the study across the Southeast States. Hence results are largely applicable to other areas of Nigeria not selected. Additionally, the questionnaire and personal interview method of data collection require the respondents to recall from their memories about their socio-economic variables, income, government support, COVID-19 precautionary measures and perceived effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming among others. Most rural farmers do not keep farm records hence, the findings may be subject to memory

Therefore, the author and further studies may attempt to rigorously and systematically link farmers perceived effect of COVID-19 pandemic in rice farming with the quantitative measurement of farm harvest, farm output per hectare, farm

strengthening, the right tools and channels are necessary to provide tailored effective agricultural extension agents messages. The government should

domiciled from exposure to the infection, all residents in the potential risk areas should be encouraged to stay at home, which is one of the most effective ways of blocking the transmission routes. Local community health workers and volunteers, after the specific training, should be encouraged to proactively participate in screening the suspicious infections and help in implementing proper quarantine measures by providing support services, such as driving patients to the mobile hospitals. All those activities should

back from shocks and enhance resilience. Therefore, capacity

strengthen agricultural extension agents'service delivery.

logistically be managed at the community level.

implementing strategies.

lapses of the respondents.

**201**

**Drawbacks and areas for further study**

well as encourage more farmers to go into rice farming.

agricultural extension service delivery.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93744*

The survey was conducted at the onset of discovering of the index case of COVID-19 in Nigeria (27 February 2020) that is, from March to July 2020 with the help of two-hundred (200) enumerators, that is, forty (40) for each State. A cross-sectional data was elicited from 504 rice farmers selected from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo State. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as means, flow-chart, percentage and Likert scale-type. Result show that the mean age was 45.00 years. Greater proportions (61.30%) were male. Majority (53.57%) were married with an average household size of 8 persons. Average educational level, farming experience and annual farm income were 12.00 years (equivalent to secondary education), 21.00 years and N880,200.00 (2267.62USD), respectively. Additionally, farmers may have also developed sustainable COVID-19 pandemic strategies to thwart the negative effect of COVID-19 Pandemic to improve their farm yield, income, and standard of living. The high awareness could be attributed to the massive publicity about the virus by various Nigeria news agencies, and agricultural extension agents. The extension agents have been called to help bridge gap in information for farmers. The finding reveals that about 99.82% of the farmers identified inadequate information. This could be attributed to the dearth in research on COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategies for rice farmers as well as lack of information and clarity on the actionable guidance and precautionary measures by World Health Organization (WHO), Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and local health authority. This constraint left the farmers unable to get the much-needed information on COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable rice farming. In the present information age, inadequate information could pose serious challenges to the farmers' coping strategies as they may not be aware of recent developments regarding COVID-19 pandemic, mitigation strategies, and the necessary re-adjustments needed.
