Farmers’ perception on the potential impact of Coronavirus disease on their livelihood in Malawi

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was a global health crisis. Its effects did not spare the smallholder farmers. This study aimed at assessing smallholder farmers’ perceived potential impact of COVID-19 on their livelihood in Malawi. During the first wave of the COVID-19, 606 smallholder farmers residing in 12 districts in Malawi were interviewed through an online survey. Farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices on COVID-19 were evaluated. Results showed that 81% of the farmers had knowledge on transmission, prevention, signs and symptoms, groups which were at high risk, and that there was no availability of COVID-19 treatment. The majority of the farmers (96%) reported that the measures which the Government of Malawi instituted to contain the spread of the disease were effective. All the farmers interviewed reported practicing at-least one of the preventive measures as advised by the Government through the Ministry of Health. Ninety nine percent of the farmers reported that they would report using the channels designated by the Government through the Ministry of Health if they suspected that one has symptoms of COVID-19. The critical sources of COVID-19 information for the farmers were radio and television stations (80%), and digital platforms (73%). Based on the farmers’ views, the first wave of the disease negatively impacted their income (85%) and food (63%) sources. These results pinpoint the need for COVID-19 inclusive programming in existing and new developmental initiatives targeting smallholder farmers.


Introduction
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected the agriculture sector amongst other sectors. Agriculture is the key driver of the Malawi economy. Agriculture also remains the main contributor to nutrition and food security, and employment in Malawi. The COVID-19 pandemic was a global health crisis caused by a novel human coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) which first emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [ 1 , 2 ]. The disease had an overwhelming impact on the global economy, development, and health of communities across the world [1] . In Malawi, the first three confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on 2nd April 2020. Thereafter, state of disaster was declared on 20th March 2020. To slow down the spread of the COVID-19, Malawi, like other countries around the world, enforced various measures recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which included but not limited to: promotion of social distancing, regular hand washing with soap and water, use of hand sanitizer, practising respiratory hygiene, putting on masks, restriction of gatherings, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), self-isolation and quarantine of suspected or confirmed cases, amongst others.
Malawi was not spared from the impact of COVID-19. Malawi's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2020 was negatively affected as it went down by 0.8% from the pre-pandemic projection of 4.8% [2] . The agriculture sector in Malawi is predominantly smallholder farmers dependent. The smallholder farmers largely practice subsistence farming and are constrained by several challenges including lack of skills and information. The agriculture sector contributes to 22.4% of the national GDP and provides a livelihood to more than 85% of the population [3] . Nevertheless, insufficient extension services indicated by low extension officer to farmers ratio estimated at 1:2700 constitute critical factors contributing to low agricultural productivity and poor market linkages amongst the smallholder farmers [4] . The need to continue supporting smallholder farmers despite the effects of COVID-19 pandemic is as such unquestionable.
With the advent of COVID-19 the efficiency of government and developmental partners in supporting smallholder farmers was affected due to the restrictions. In order to institute effective measures and policies designed for sustaining and improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers amidst COVID-19, understanding farmers' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP), and the economic impact of the disease on farmers was needed. The main objective of this study was to assess smallholder farmers' perceptions on the potential impact of COVID-19 on their livelihoods. Farmers' KAP on COVID-19 were thus evaluated.

Study design and sites
The study used a mixed methods design (quantitative and qualitative approaches) in a rapid cross-sectional survey covering 12 districts in Malawi from the month end of September to early October 2020. The study covered all the three (northern, central, and southern) regions of Malawi. Three districts were from the northern region (Nkhatabay, Mzimba, Chitipa), five from the central region (Ntcheu, Dowa, Mchinji, Ntchisi and Kasungu) and four from the southern region (Neno, Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Balaka). The target population were smallholder farmers who were being supported by World Vision Malawi and who owned or had access to a mobile phone. All ethical consideration issues were adhered to in this study.

Sample size
Purposeful and random sampling procedures were used in identifying the study participants. The sample size of 545 was calculated using Cochran's formula described by Bartlett et al. [5] . Since the initial calculated sample size exceeded the 5% of the target population (4583), Cochran's correction formula was applied and then the resultant sample size was adjusted for arbitrary anticipated response rate of 65% with the anticipation that some of the phone numbers would be out of reach amongst other reasons. The adjustment resulted in a final sample size of 606.

Data collection
The study was entirely conducted online over the phone without physical contact with the smallholder farmers using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was configured in Open Data Kit software and the data was managed using KoBoToolbox software. The questionnaire had four key themes namely COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, perception, and COVID-19 impact on livelihood. The knowledge section of the questionnaire had questions pertaining to knowledge of transmission, prevention, signs and symptoms, risk groups, containment measures, and treatment of COVID-19. The attitude section had a question on attitude towards prevention while the section on perception had questions on the practicing of preventive measures. The livelihood component had questions designed to capture the potential impact of COVID-19 on food and income sources, and number of meals taken per day for the participating smallholder farmers.
The selected smallholder farmers were notified first through text messages to give them an indication of when they could expect a call for interviews. The farmers had the opportunity to reschedule the interview by texting back or opting out from the study. Each individual interview was lasting for not more than 30 min; that is including introductions. Informed verbal consent was always sought from the farmers at the beginning of the interview. The farmers were assured of their anonymity and farmers were free to withdraw from an interview at any stage, if they wished to.

Data analysis
Data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics Subscription package. The package enabled performing cross tabulation and generation of descriptive statistics such as mean and percentages to ably respond to the study objectives. Graphs were produced in Excel.

Characteristics of the participating smallholder farmers
Representative male and female smallholder farmers were interviewed to understand their perceived potential impact of the COVID-19 and farmers' KAP on the COVID-19 disease during its first wave. The male farmers comprised 49% (295) and the proportion of female smallholder farmers was 51% (311). The mean ages of the male and female smallholder farmers interviewed were similar, 42 ± 0.76 versus 40 ± 0.63, respectively.

Information sources for smallholder farmers
The main sources which the smallholder farmers received information were radio or television stations (80%) and short message service (SMS) platform (73%) as shown in Fig. 1 . It was further noted that nearly all the sources of information were utilised by both male and female farmers (e.g., radio/TV: 40% versus 41%; SMS: 37% versus 37%, respectively).
It is therefore tempting to speculate that media (radio and TV) and digital sources, especially low technology (low-tech) digital sources such as toll-free lines, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and SMS, are critical sources of information to achieving an enhanced information system amongst smallholder farmers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic era. The quick uptake in terms of access and utilisation of low-tech digital information sources in this case via SMS by the smallholder farmers underscore the importance of how the low-tech digital information services can facilitate farmer education to improve their skills in addition to providing easy and free access to information. While there has been an increase in the number of smallholder farmers owning mobile phones, which was estimated at 42% in 2017 in Malawi [6] , most of them are not smartphones. This therefore provides a justification for prioritising USSD and SMS based innovative solutions for supporting farmers before building smartphone-orientated applications for the smallholder farmers. The overall results are pointing toward the need for a hybrid approach, integration of digital and conventional approaches, in educating and building smallholder farmers' skills and improving their access to information or other services.

Farmers KAP on COVID-19
At-least 81% of the smallholder farmers had knowledge on transmission, prevention, signs and symptoms, groups at high risk of being affected by the coronavirus and that COVID-19 has no treatment. Having adequate knowledge of COVID-19 was important in gaining a clear understanding of the pandemic and was very crucial for ensuring that individuals follow appropriate prevention practices [7] . However, the proportion of farmers who reported correctly about the channels which were put in place by the Malawi Government through the Ministry of Health, for reporting COVID-19 suspects or cases was 61% ( Fig. 2 ). About 30% of the smallholder farmers did not know the correct methods or channels for reporting a COVID-19 suspect. Some farmers indicated going to the village head, extension worker or their relatives as channels they could use to report a COVID-19 suspect or case. These results suggested a need for continuing sensitising smallholder farmers on any new or existing measures being instituted to combat the disease.
When asked about their opinions on the effectiveness of the prevention measures that were put in place by the government as advised by WHO, 68% of the farmers reported that the preventive measures were very effective as they were observing a drop in the number of COVID-19 cases in Malawi from April 2020 to early October 2020, via different information sources. Only 1% of the interviewed smallholder farmers reported that the measures were not at all effective ( Fig. 3 ).
Interestingly, all the farmers (100%) reported to have adopted at-least one of the preventive measures to protect themselves from contracting coronavirus though this was not validated. Out of the 606 smallholder farmers, 91% reported practicing hand washing as one of the preventive measures against COVID-19, followed by wearing of masks (80%) and then   lastly social distancing (77%) ( Fig. 4 ). Only 9% of the farmers reported using sanitizer as one of the preventive measures. The observed low number of farmers using the hand sanitizer could be related to the cost associated with sourcing the hand sanitizers. When asked about whether the farmer would report themselves or a family member or friend if they are suspected to have contracted coronavirus, 99% indicated that they were willing to do so. This high level of willingness to report a COVID-19 suspect suggested that the majority of the smallholder farmers were ready to take active roles in the fight against the COVID-19.

Factors affecting COVID-19 behavioural change
Despite having the necessary knowledge, attitude, and perception about COVID-19, 62% of the smallholder farmers reported that during some events such as weddings, funerals, church services and political rallies it was not possible to practise the preventive measures. This could be the case due to difficulties in enforcing the preventive measures for large gatherings such as wearing of masks and observing social distancing especially when the gatherings are on open grounds or spaces e.g., at funerals and political rallies. For some events such as funerals and weddings, there could be additional cultural factors that prevented the change of behaviour. However, no further analysis was conducted to confirm this speculation. Table 1 shows events that made it difficult for the smallholder farmers to observe COVID-19 preventive measures.
Notice that most of the smallholder farmers did not indicate that COVID-19 disturbed their farming activities (despite that being their major activity) because this study was conducted after the harvesting period in Malawi which is normally  from April to May. About 17% of the smallholder farmers indicated that it was not possible to practise COVID-19 preventive measures when working in the fields and 11% of the farmers reported that it was not possible to practise the preventive measures when performing farming related activities outside their homestead e.g., procuring input or selling crops.
Though it was observed that in nearly all categories assessed, female smallholder farmers reported to be more affected than their male counterparts, no further investigation was done to justify the trend. Katharine and Mkwambisi [8] indicated that women in Malawi contribute greatly to agriculture, producing about 70% of food consumed locally. The role of women in agriculture is nevertheless constrained by low education levels, limited control over productive resources, reduced labour availability and minimal access to financial services. The discussion of the factors that hinder effective participation of women in agriculture sector was beyond the scope of this study. Table 2 shows the proportion of farmers who reported the effects of the first wave of COVID-19 on their livelihoods. The impact of COVID-19 on the smallholder farmers' livelihoods appeared to be through its higher impact on the farmers' income (85%) and food (63%) sources than on number of meals per day (48%) as shown in Table 2 .

Potential impact of COVID-19 on farmers' livelihoods
The main reasons for the huge impact of the first wave of COVID-19 on the smallholder farmers' household income was that businesses had slowed, stopped, or struggled (79% (399)) and it was difficult to find work especially casual labour (19%). Very few smallholder farmers (2%) indicated that they became unemployed due to COVID-19. Since farmers' income was the highest source of livelihood affected, one may conclude that the main reasons why their food source was affected was their inability to work, do business or find casual labour (56% (195) and that farmers had difficulties to trade or have access to markets (32%). Some farmers reported that they were afraid to go out to do business and/or were staying at home as a means of observing the preventive measures (15%). Therefore, one would conclude that 67% (97) of the smallholder farmers who indicated that COVID-19 had affected the number of meals their households were having per day, had less or no money to buy the food or could go the market but could not find the food items due to shortage in supply or could buy less due to the increase in price for some items (24%). Some farmers (9%) indicated that even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic era, they were eating less than three times a day. This could be an indication of chronic poverty levels amongst the smallholder farmers in the districts where this study was conducted. This points to the need to continue supporting the smallholder farmers through implementation of diverse livelihood programmes despite the pandemic.

Conclusion
The pandemic impacted the farmers' livelihoods through disruption of their income and food sources. The smallholder farmers were unable to work, do business, find casual labour, trade or have access to markets. The majority of the participating smallholder farmers in this study demonstrated substantial knowledge, positive attitudes, and reasonable practices to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The radio/TV stations and SMS services were the main sources the farmers were using to receive COVID-19 information. Despite having the necessary knowledge, attitude, and perception, it was clear that in some cases it was not possible for the farmers to practice the preventive measures of COVID-19, especially during funerals, weddings, and political rallies. Knowledge gaps on recommended channels for reporting a COVID-19 suspect or case were identified which required further awareness. The need for COVID-19 or similar pandemic responsive and digital inclusive programming in existing and new developmental initiatives targeting smallholder farmers is undisputable.

Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Funding
This work was supported by the World Vision International as part of a pilot project on rapid response to COVID-19 pandemic through the World Vision International Support Offices: Hong Kong, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, USA, South Korea and Japan .