COVID-19 and Food Supply in Bangladesh: A Review
Abdullah Al Zabir
Department of Agricultural Statistics, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
Asif Mahmud *
Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Business Studies, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
Md. Ariful Islam
Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh. and BRAC, Bangladesh.
Sabyasachi Chanda Antor
Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Business Studies, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
Farhana Yasmin
Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Business Studies, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
Aditya Dasgupta
Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Business Studies, Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The pandemic COVID-19 has slowed down human activities globally and throwing countries into a slump and possibly economic depression. Bangladesh, a growing economic country, is also experiencing severe economic shockwaves. Besides the economic shock, it is also facing an imbalance in the food supply in all of its channels. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general understanding of the possible impacts of COVID-19 on food supply in Bangladesh. The paper presents a brief summary of the global COVID-19 situation and the current food supply status concerning COVID-19. In Bangladesh, the trend of COVID-19 cases is increasing and due to the lockdown situation, the food supply is hampering badly. Since most farmers are not adapted to mechanized agriculture and facing labour shortages, their production has fallen at risk in terms of harvesting. Due to buyer shortage and unavailability of supply channels, products are being forced to sell at a low price and it will take years to overcome this shock as the prognosis of COVID-19 is still unknown to all. Though the government has taken some policy measures to maintain a sufficient food supply, protect the agriculture sector, and mitigate the possible losses.
Keywords: COVID-19, food supply, coronavirus, agriculture, Bangladesh.