Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2023, 69(1):35-44 | DOI: 10.17221/344/2022-AGRICECON

The economic well-being of smallholders and challenges during COVID-19 pandemic: A reviewReview

Nurul Atiqah Binti Mohd Suib1, Norlida Hanim Mohd Salleh1, Mohd Fazim Ahmad1
1 Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Development Studies, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

The challenges smallholders face in agricultural management between developed and developing countries differ and can also impact the smallholder's well-being. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that affect the well-being of smallholders. We conducted a systematic literature by applying the Preferred Reported Item for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and extracted 30 articles from Scopus and Web of Science. These articles show three main factors that drive well-being: technology, optimal resource, and insurance, and two additional factors: market pricing and tax policy. Findings show that all the above factors will first impact economic well-being and, subsequently, social well-being. When COVID-19 struck, the smallholder's well-being was also affected in addition to the destabilised food chain. Travel restrictions have led to a labour shortage. The smallholders had to turn to e-commerce to sell their products. They also incurred losses and experienced difficulties in procuring agricultural intermediate inputs. The absence of agricultural insurance worsened the impact on the well-being of the smallholders. To safeguard the well-being of these smallholders, the study suggests that stakeholders should encourage local labour participation, increase investment in human capital, adopt e-commerce in marketing, offer agricultural insurance schemes against various disasters and continuously provide or increase subsidies to smallholders.

Keywords: developed countries; developing countries; impact; systematic literature review

Received: November 2, 2022; Accepted: January 2, 2023; Published: January 27, 2023  Show citation

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Binti Mohd Suib NA, Salleh NHM, Ahmad MF. The economic well-being of smallholders and challenges during COVID-19 pandemic: A review. Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2023;69(1):35-44. doi: 10.17221/344/2022-AGRICECON.
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