Reflections on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural livelihoods

The COVID-19 pandemic has had long-lasting impacts on agricultural development and rural society, increasing the uncertainty of the entire agricultural system and victimizing rural livelihoods. Rethinking the relationship between COVID-19 and rural livelihoods not only can reveal the general pattern of maintaining the livelihoods in the face of shocks, but also helps to understand the changes brought by COVID-19 to the agricultural system from the perspective of rural households. This is the key to improving the resilience of the agricultural system and realizing the sustainable development of agriculture in the post-epidemic era. Therefore, by synthesizing current research on related topics, this article seeks to illustrate the impacts and response process which exist between the COVID-19 shock and dynamic rural livelihoods. The study finds that, by changing the external environmental context and internal livelihood bases, the COVID-19 shock disturbed livelihood practices and therefore influenced rural livelihoods. At the same time, the COVID-19 shock elicited a response from rural residents. Specifically, households responded with both positive transformation strategies and conservative maintenance strategies. Their responses shaped the content of the households’ production and lifestyles after the impact and remodeled the original livelihoods basis. Based on existing studies, future research should continue to focus on the long-term impacts of COVID-19 shocks on rural livelihoods, on further changes in rural households’ livelihood strategies, and on the behavioral logic behind the strategies during the post-epidemic recovery period.