Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Plant Production and Plant Protection

Abstract

After the COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic, nothing has ever been the same for humankind. The lockdown, travel restrictions, closure of borders, and restriction of the movement of people and materials through quarantine measures applied all over the world to combat the COVID-19 pandemic affected agriculture alongside many sectors. The pandemic has made countries reconsider the issue of self-sufficiency in agriculture and it has been understood once again that agriculture is an indispensable element of human life. Agriculture is generally an input-intensive industry. Plant protection products, fertilizers, seeds, fuel, and labor are among the most important of these inputs. Failure to occur in one or more of these means a decrease in the quality and quantity of the product. Countries that do not want to face such a problem have taken some measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, some have been successful, and some have been insufficient. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to labor shortages in plant production, difficulties in accessing plant protection products, and disruptions in plant protection practices due to lack of labor force, financial problems and equipment shortages. The pandemic has also affected education and research activities. With this review, we tried to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on plant production and plant protection in Turkey and in the world.