COVID-19 and Dynamics of Food Insecurity in Eastern India: Evidence from Analysis of a Panel Survey

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns raised concerns about increased food insecurity globally. This paper examines the incidence of food insecurity during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the poorest region of India. The study used panel data from two rounds of a telephone su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Indian journal of agricultural economics Vol. 79; no. 2; pp. 198 - 213
Main Authors Kumar, Anjani, Sonkar, Vinay K, K. S., Aditya, Mishra, Ashok K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bombay Indian Society of Agricultural Economics 04.07.2024
Subjects
COVID-19
Food
Food security
Households
Insecurity
Pandemics
Panel data
Polls & surveys
Rural areas
Sample size
Surveys
Telephone surveys
West Bengal India
Uttar Pradesh India
India
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns raised concerns about increased food insecurity globally. This paper examines the incidence of food insecurity during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the poorest region of India. The study used panel data from two rounds of a telephone survey of 2,091 rural households. The study found that the incidence of food insecurity increased throughout the pandemic, with about 79 per cent of rural households reporting food insecurity in the second round of the survey, up from 70 per cent in the first round. About 59 per cent of the rural families who were food secure during the first round became food insecure by the second round of the survey. Our findings indicate that food insecurity due to COVID-19 is more likely to be structural than transitory.
ISSN:0019-5014
2582-7510
DOI:10.63040/25827510.2024.02.002