Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Agriculture Production in Southeast Asia: Reinforcing Transformative Change in Agricultural Food Systems

How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect the agriculture sector in Southeast Asia? Clearly, any disruptions in the agricultural food systems would create supply and demand shocks that would redound to the agriculture sector's immediate and long-term economic performance and food security contribution. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to result in 3.11 percent reduction in aggregate volume of agricultural production (29.58 million tons) in Southeast Asia due to decline in agricultural farm labor affecting 100.77 million individuals. Overall, this could translate to 1.4 percent decrease in GDP (USD 3.76 billion) of the Southeast Asian region. Ensuring a systemic transformation of the agricultural systems into resilient, sustainable, productive, and inclusive food systems would be critical for the future of Southeast Asia.