Introducing our Updated COVID-19 Dashboard

Incorporating new survey data, and new visualizations, Dashboard 2.0 allows one to observe and compare trends across rounds of surveys and geographies.

Andrew Wang, a PAD summer research associate on the global research team, who was the primary creator of the new dashboard, writes:

The next iteration of our COVID-19 dashboard is here! 

Dashboard 2.0 includes new survey data collected between mid-June and September 2020 in Kenya and two states in India. The new data complements, and is comparable with, Round 1 data collected in Kenya and one state in India in April and June. The updated dashboard also includes a new set of visualizations to illustrate temporal trends over the course of the pandemic.

Building on the first round of surveys in Kenya and State 1 in India, our team conducted a second round of surveys (R2) in Kenya between July and August, and in India between June and September. The updated dashboard also includes data from a round of surveys conducted in a second state in India (State 2) between May and July. Across all three regions, a total of 4,166 farmers, of whom 1,070 (25.7%) were women farmers, were surveyed and their responses are included in this updated dashboard. A third round of data collection is planned in Kenya and State 1 in India, and the dashboard will be updated in due course.

While specific trends differ between, and within, countries, there are several notable findings from the new visualizations. It should be noted that these trends are observational and that, on the basis of these survey results alone, cannot be causally attributed to COVID-19.

• Disruptions to labor markets in India appear to have lessened over the course of the pandemic as the Kharif (summer) cropping season got underway and lockdown restrictions eased. In August and September, over 70% of surveyed farmers in State 1 reported hiring at least as much labor as last year, compared to only 50% in May and June.
• However, measures of reported food insecurity rose throughout the summer in India, with over 60% of respondents reporting that they were unable to buy the amount of food their household usually consumed due to increased prices and/or reduced income. Towards the latter half of the summer, a greater fraction of farmers in both Indian states reported reducing their meal frequency or portions.
• In Kenya, the share of farmers reporting challenges with regard to buying food at affordable prices, or accessing markets decreased slightly (but consistently), from 99% in April to 84% in August. This suggests that market conditions may be recovering following the easing of COVID-related travel and curfew restrictions. However, increased household stress associated with diminished incomes is evident in an increase in the proportion of farmers who reported reducing meal frequency and/or the size of their portions. 
• Across all three regions, women respondents were more likely than men to report that they had reduced the portion size or frequency of their meals.
• Notwithstanding these food concerns, when asked about COVID-19 related concerns the fraction of farmers who cited “not having enough food for the household” decreased over time in both Kenya and India State 1 surveys.
• During the second round of surveys in Kenya and State 1 in India, fewer farmers reported worrying about family members contracting COVID-19 (a steady decrease is observable from 57% in May to 34% in September). Concerns about personally contracting the disease also dropped in Kenya (53% in September compared to 67% in May), but not in the Indian state (52% in both May and September). This pattern is consistent for men and women farmers.

Further iterations of this work are in the pipeline: A third round of surveys will go into the field in Kenya soon, and we are developing a separate dashboard to visualize the impacts of the pandemic on Kenyan agro-dealers. Stay tuned!

For a deeper dive into the impacts of COVID-19 on smallholder farmers across geographies, gender, and time, take a look at the dashboard and read through our relevant policy notes and blog posts.