Conceptualizing Humane Buying and Its Role in Reducing Rural Farmers’ Vulnerability in a Post-Pandemic Era

Abstract

In late 2019, the world was hit with a deadly disease which was later described as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO). The COVID-19 pandemic, as it is called (WHO, 2020), ushered in the deepest recession since the Second World War, with the largest fraction of economies experiencing declines in per capita output since 1870 (The World Bank, 2020). The pandemic unleashed a health and economic crisis, unprecedented in scope and magnitude, with lockdowns and border closures paralyzing economic activity and laying off millions of workers globally (United Nations Report, 2020). Besides, global, regional, national, state, local, and individual family economies contrasted drastically, thus reducing the general standard of living and well-being (Agu et al., 2021).