COVID-19 Lockdown and Mental Health Consequences among Farming Households in Nigeria

1. INTRODUCTION

Since the discovery of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the virus has spread globally [1]. The virus appears highly transmissible and is rated very high by the WHO Risk Assessment [2]. It has been documented that an average patient infects 1.6 to 2.4 other people, with a fatality rate in the 70s being 3-4 times larger than the average. The fatality rate under 40 years seems to be around 0.2%. Men are twice as likely to get infected as women [3]. As COVID-19 started spreading globally in early 2020, many countries responded with severe restrictions to protect public health [4]. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic has ravished local, national, and global economies [4]. However, evidence shows that developing countries face higher risks from pandemic [5].

In 2019, approximately 970 million individuals globally were affected by mental health disorders, including 301 million with anxiety disorders and 280 million with depressive disorders. Notably, 82% of those affected resided in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [6]. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, these figures surged dramatically, with early data indicating a 28% rise in major depressive disorders and a 26% increase in anxiety disorders [6]. Unlike many physical health conditions, mental disorders have a unique capacity to impact an individual’s cognitive functioning, preferences, and beliefs, potentially creating a cycle that reinforces poverty [7]. Research has demonstrated that mental health conditions are linked to decreased productivity, elevated unemployment rates, and various economic consequences. A recent analysis by the World Economic Forum estimated that considering a wide range of mental health disorders, these conditions could impose a global economic burden of approximately US$ 6 trillion by 2030 [8].

Beyond its direct health consequences, the pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on employment, poverty, food security, nutrition, education, healthcare, and the overall operation of food systems [9-12]. Recent projections from the World Bank indicated that the pandemic was expected to push approximately 49 million people worldwide into extreme poverty in 2020 [13]. Over 45% of this total, equivalent to about 23 million people, are in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the significant impact on the region. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) projected that the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity globally would nearly double by the end of 2020, rising from approximately 135 million before the crisis. This increase was attributed to income and remittance losses and disruptions to food systems caused by the pandemic [14, 15]. In addition, a study by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) identified 15 African countries, Nigeria inclusive, that are at high risk of severe deterioration of food security and nutrition attributed to the pandemic [16].

Approximately 5 million Nigerians are expected to fall into poverty due to the impacts of COVID-19, including mobility restrictions and lockdown measures [13, 14, 17]. For example, studies have projected that COVID-19-related lockdowns and social distancing measures could negatively impact incomes by disrupting economic and livelihood activities [9, 10, 18], directly affecting food security. In Nigeria, recent projections indicated that the economy could shrink by 3.5% to 5% in 2020 due to government-imposed lockdowns and mobility restrictions [13, 17, 19].

The lockdown policy in Nigeria lasted from March 30 to July 27, 2020, with three easing phases [20]. The disruption of the lockdown and COVID-19-induced food systems has been projected to adversely affect Nigerian food systems. Rural dwellers, mostly smallholder farmers, are more vulnerable because they lack resilience against such shock. This may be attributed to several factors, including poverty, small scale of production, low level of literacy, heavy reliance on manual labour, and poor access to insurance, among others. While vaccinations may help, some risks are still evident and impact all sectors of the economy [21, 22]. Such risks include the mental health stress that farmers are exposed to due to the pandemic, which has many implications for farmers' health status and productivity.

In some cases, suicide among farmers has been noted amid the pandemic resulting from their inability to pay debts and to find labourers during the lockdown, leading to a helpless situation [23]. Also, adverse health consequences linked to the pandemic have been noted among the most vulnerable groups, including smallholder farmers [24-26]. While researchers have made several efforts to investigate the effects of the pandemic on various aspects of livelihoods, little is known about the mental health effects of the pandemic among smallholder farmers in rural Nigeria. Therefore, this present study bridged this information gap by advancing relevant policy recommendations regarding the pandemic's mental health effects on smallholder farmers. Findings from this study are critical in dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic and developing an adequate and effective response system for smallholder food producers, considering their demographic peculiarities and focusing on their mental health.

2. METHODS

The study was carried out in Nigeria. Nigeria has about 75 percent of the estimated 195 million Nigerian population engaged in Agriculture [27]. The study employed primary data collected using a structured questionnaire. This was augmented with phone interviews where appropriate. Data were collected between October 16 and November 10, 2020. This was about 4 months after the lockdown policy was lifted. A three-stage sampling method was used for the study. First, two (North-Central and South-West) out of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria were randomly sampled in the study. Then, two States were sampled from each geo-political zone selected. Next, the North-Central Zone-(Kogi and Kwara States) and South-West Zone-(Ekiti and Ondo States) were randomly sampled from the designated geo-political zones in Nigeria (See a map of Nigeria showing the States in Fig. (1). The third stage involved sampling 150 farmers from each State using a snowball approach. Snowball sampling is a method where current participants help identify and recruit future participants from among their acquaintances. This is usually referred to as chain referral sampling. The total number of sampled respondents was 600 crop farmers. However, during data cleaning, 15 were found unsuitable for data analysis, and 585 questionnaires were used for analysis. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, charts, and binary logistic regression analysis.

The implicit model for the binary logistic regression at stage one is stated as follows:

(1)

Where ln is natural log Exp and Exp=2.71

P is the probability the event occurred p(y=1); in this case, the probability a farmer’s mental health was affected by COVID-19. P/1-p is the odd ratio, and ln(p/1-p) is the log odds or logit

The implicit form is modelled thus:

(2)

Ydit indicates the effect of COVID-19 on farmers’ mental health (1=Yes;0=otherwise)

X1= Age of the farmer (years);

X2=Gender (1=male;0=otherwise)

X3= Marital status (single=0; married=1)

X4=Highest schooling level in years

X5=Farming Experience (years)

X6=Average Monthly Income (Naira)

X7=Membership of Farmers’ group (1=Yes;0=otherwise)

X8=General farm business being affected by the pandemic (1=Yes;0=otherwise)

e =Error term

3. RESULTS

As shown in Table 1, the mean age of respondents was found to be 44 years. The modal household size for the study was between six and ten, with a mean of 7 persons. The farming experience of the farmers shows that the majority of the farmers were seasoned farmers, having a mean experience of 21 years with an average of 2.4 hectares. The average monthly farm income from their farming enterprises was ₦43,182.

As shown in Table 2, seventy (70%) of the respondents were found to be male. About 94 percent of the farmers were married, while 9.47 percent were single. The high percentage of married arable crop farmers may imply large household sizes. Most of the respondents were found to be educated. About 85% had formal education, with tertiary education being the modal class. The average monthly income was over 43,000 ($96) Naira. About 71% were members of farmers’ social groups. Membership in social groups could also aid information access among farmers and help cushion the effect of the pandemic on the well-being of farmers.

As presented in Table 3, about 62% of the respondents noted high seed costs during the lockdown, 81% reported a high price of labour input, 71% stated a high cost of fertilizers, 70% noted an increased cost of herbicides, and 83% said a high cost of transportation attributed to the pandemic. This finding is corroborated by a study [28], which indicated that temporary foreign worker shortages leading to high labour costs had exposed farmers to mental health challenges. Further evidence showed that the quarantine measures reduced labour availability for important farming activities like sowing vegetable crops, picking fruits, etc.

Furthermore, we found that about 56% were able to identify COVID-19-induced farm business stress. About 70% reported they had experienced income loss due to the COVID-19 lockdown. About 15% and 10% reported farm-produced spoilage and poor market sales, respectively.

Table 4 shows that 38% of the respondents were challenged to adhere to the lockdown rule. About 34% were challenged using face masks. About 24% were challenged using alcoholic-based sanitizers, while only 1% reported having issues with handwashing.

3.1. COVID-19 and Perceived Mental Health Effects among Farmers

As presented in Fig. (2), the study found that 54% self-reported COVID-19-induced mental health stress. This may be due to various reasons, including the high cost of farm inputs, labour shortage, and farm produce wastage due to the lockdown policy.

Table 4.

Challenged adhering to the Lockdown Rule	Frequency	Percentage
Yes	222	38.00
No	363	62.00
Challenged using facemask
Yes	199	34.00
No	386	66.00
Challenged washing hands
Yes	006	01.00
No	579	99.00
Challenged using alcoholic sanitizers
Yes	140	24.00
No	445	76.00

Source: Data Analysis, 2020.

Similarly, as shown in Fig. (3), the study showed that 74% perceived the effects of mental health in the form of headaches, 48% reported anxiety, 44%-worry, 41%-depression, and 34% lost their temper, respectively.

As presented in Fig. (4), the respondent self-reported mental health coping strategies to include rest (63%), social gathering (57%), religious gathering (52%), and the use of drugs (40%); 28% engaged in recreation, while 17% resorted to alcohol intake as a coping strategy against COVID-19-induced mental health effects among farmers.

As shown in Table 5, we found that the male respondents were 3.7 times more likely to experience COVID-19-induced mental health issues from their farm business than their female counterparts. Similarly, single/unmarried respondent were 2.44 times more likely to experience COVID-19-induced mental health issues from their farm business than their married counterparts. We also documented that respondents with more household members experienced less mental health stress. In addition, we found that higher-income respondents have less mental health stress. Economic factors were recorded as being crucial for the mental health of farmers.

Table 5.

Variables	Odd Ratio	Standard Error	z-value
Age	1.024177	.0160063	1.53
Gender	3.669502*	2.158854	2.21
Marital status	2.440609*	.6773471	3.21
Household size	.8281476*	.0553015	-2.82
Highest educational level	.8274687	.0807918	-1.94
Farming experience (years)	1.023773	.0206516	1.16
Average monthly income	.9999724*	.0000104	-2.64
Membership in the farmers association	1.019044	.4049016	0.05
COVID-19	2.989259	3.154331	1.04
Constant	.018572**	.0271421	-2.73

Source: Field survey, (2020) LR chi2 (11) = 57.47; Prob> chi2 = 0.0000; Log-likelihood = -171.49403 and Pseudo R2 = 0.2059 *Significance level at 5%,

4. DISCUSSION

The age distribution of farmers in the study shows that most respondents were young, which suggests a strong potential for resilience, energy, and a greater willingness to take risks and embrace innovation. The average farming experience of 21 years was anticipated to significantly influence the acquisition of skills and the ability to adopt technological innovations in crop production.

This finding also showed that most respondents are literate, as high literacy levels among farmers could also aid COVID-19-related information access. High membership (71%) in social groups could also aid information access among farmers and help cushion the effect of the pandemic on farmers’ well-being. When considering the effect of COVID-19 confinement on input cost and farm business of farmers, the majority of the farmers noted high seed costs, the high price of labour input, high cost of fertilizers, herbicides, and transportation costs during the lockdown, which was attributed to the pandemic. This finding is corroborated by a study that indicated that temporary foreign worker shortages leading to high labour costs had exposed farmers to mental health challenges [28]. Further evidence showed that the quarantine measures reduced labour availability for important farming activities like sowing vegetable crops and picking fruits [29-32]. With the deepening economic crisis caused by the world pandemic, these impacts might be even more severe for agricultural sectors. Our study corroborates the study which reported that COVID-19 had a detrimental impact on the daily lives of farmers [33], worsening conditions by 61.2%. The pandemic led to a rise in the cost of planting (57.4%) and agrochemicals and fertilizers (69.9%). Additionally, it caused a decrease in the prices of agricultural products (73.5%) and agricultural extension services (66.5%). The markets and logistics for agricultural products became more challenging during the pandemic compared to prior conditions at 72.8% and 65.1%, respectively [26].

Furthermore, we found out that farmers experienced several business stresses induced by COVID-19. among which include income loss (70%), farm produce spoilage (15%), and poor market sales (10%), respectively. The result agreed with a study that showed that the pandemic to lockdown, unsold crops to rotten crops, and financial crisis to acute hunger had brought agricultural activities to a standstill [22], which may have contributed to health issues among farmers [15]. Covid-19 impacts losses of farmers' goods, especially fresh vegetables, fruit, and milk products. These losses were associated with restrictions imposed by countries for movement and interactions, labour losses, and demand reduction due to the closure of restaurants, hotels, etc [32, 34-36], as 54% of the farmers reported COVID-19-induced mental health stress. This may be due to various reasons, including the high cost of farm inputs, labour shortage, and farm produce wastage due to the lockdown policy. This finding corroborates an earlier study, which reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected mental health in rural Ontario [28] particularly among farmers. In addition, several studies provided [3, 22, 24, 26] reviews of these hazards for farmers and rural communities, including cases of suicide among farmers [19]. Furthermore, it was also noted that the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a global health concern impacting both physical and mental health across populations [19]. The farmers (74%) perceived the effects of mental health in the form of headaches, anxiety, worry, depression, and loss of their temper, respectively. This study agreed with the University of Guelph's research that farmers are already at high risk for depression and anxiety [28]. Pandemic is associated with depression, anxiety, distress, phobia, and many other psychological impacts, which have been associated with suicidal behaviour among farmers [23, 32].

The self-reported mental health coping strategies of the respondents included rest, social gatherings, religious gatherings, use of drugs, and recreation activities. At the same time, 17% resorted to alcohol intake as a coping strategy against COVID-19-induced mental health effects among farmers. The identified coping strategy helps build support for farmers to adapt to the lockdown effects on their mental health. In terms of determinants of COVID-19-induced mental health issues, we found that the male respondents were 3.7 times more likely to experience COVID-19-induced mental health issues from their farm business than their female counterparts. This finding corroborates a study indicating that male farmers had a higher prevalence of mental health problems [33]. In addition, a study also suggests that men were more pessimistic about income loss than women [37].

Also, single/unmarried respondent were 2.44 times more likely to experience COVID-19-induced mental health issues from their farm business than their married counterparts. This suggests that married people are perceived as more likely to have greater social support, so marriage enhances psychological well-being [33]. We also documented that respondents with more household members experienced less mental health stress. In addition, we found that higher-income respondents have less mental health stress. Economic factors were recorded as being crucial for the mental health of farmers. This result agrees with a study that reported that farmers who faced financial problems had a higher prevalence of mental health problems than those who did not [33]. Our result further agreed with the WHO survey that stated that isolation, loss of income, the deaths of loved ones, and a barrage of information on the dangers of the new virus have stirred up stress levels and triggered mental health conditions or exacerbated existing ones [8].

CONCLUSION

In this study, we employed survey data to present empirical evidence on the consequence of the pandemic lockdown on the mental health of farmers. We found that most of the farmers self-reported COVID-19-induced farm business stress. In addition, about 70% reported income loss due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Most farmers self-reported COVID-19-induced mental health stress with manifested effects including headache, anxiety, worry, and depression. Adopted coping strategies included rest, social gatherings, religious gatherings, and the use of drugs. We documented that males were 3.7 times more likely to experience COVID-19-induced mental health issues from their farm business than their female counterparts. Also, single respondents were 2.44 times more likely to experience COVID-19-induced mental health issues from their farm business than their married counterparts. We also documented that households with larger family sizes had lower mental health stress. We also found that respondents with higher incomes had lower mental health stress. Thus, there is a need for targeted mental health campaigns, support, and interventions to help farmers address mental health stressors. Such interventions should incorporate gender, marital status, and income-related factors into their design to aid effectiveness.

REFERENCES