Economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on household vegetable consumption in the city of Cúcuta, Colombia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the agrifood system of the country, in its productive chains from the supply, marketing and consumption of food in households. Within this ontological framework, the research project "Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in the agrifood security of the department of Norte de Santander 2020-2021" is being developed, obtaining partial results on the effects of the pandemic in the consumption of vegetables in the homes of the city of Cúcuta, capital of the department. Databases of CENABASTOS and MINAGRICULTURA (2019-2020) and heads of families were consulted through an online survey of 323 households of members of the community of the University of Santander (UDES) in the period January-July 2021 on variations in the quantity, quality, price and frequency of consumption of the main vegetables produced in the department (potato, tomato, paprika, onion and garlic). Results indicate that when comparing the prices of the years 2019 (before the pandemic) and 2021 (third peak of the pandemic), price increases of potato by 97.90%, tomato by 2.39%, white onion by 105.02%, garlic by 23.79% and carrot by 2.53% are evidenced. In the surveys, the perception of the heads of household indicates that the quantity of vegetables consumed has been affected by 42.48%, quality by 37.08%, prices by 49.59% and frequency by 33.08%.