Which shop did you rush to as you first heard of lockdown? Grocery shop, isn’t it? Who provides us with the raw materials of the groceries? Farmers. So, can you imagine your life without farmers? I cannot because farmers provide us with one of the most necessities of life, i.e. food.
Since the coronavirus pandemic started globally, one scene has been common everywhere—empty grocery store shelves, as families rushed to stores preparing to settle for the long run. But as the shoppers and consumers buy food items, have they thought of the farmers who produce our food? The same farmers who are in their fields, in this pandemic, often without sick pay or health insurance, planting and harvesting our nation’s food supply.
The Lockdown Is Causing Severe Crop Damage
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihoods in India. 70% of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82% of farmers being small and marginal. Agriculture contributes about 16% of the country’s GDP.
Also, India is one of the world’s largest producers of crops like rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, vegetables and milk. Seeing this data, it is evident that the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will cause a decline in the country’s already struggling rural economy that supports nearly half its population.
India’s farm activity is at its peak between April and June as this is when the winter crops: wheat, rice and pulses are harvested and sold. And it is also the time when farmers begin sowing the summer rain-fed crops, such as- paddy, pulses, cotton and sugarcane. Around 60% of India’s food supply and farmers’ incomes are dependent on the Kharif season. The lockdown has hit both these seasons.
The coronavirus lockdown will adversely affect the agriculture sector and farmers in India. The industry is facing a lot of trouble with labourers and movement of the farm produced goods. Talking about ground reality, even if agriculture produce is exempted from lockdown directives, police officers are creating problems. Recently, due to heavy rain, India’s agriculture sector faced disruptions and crop damage.
And now it is facing another hit due to disruptions from the coronavirus. As Rabi harvest season approaches, farmers are worried about their standing crops as how to harvest. Several farm machines are not available for harvesting. Farmers growing wheat, mustard and pulses already got their crops damaged due to untimely heavy rainfall recently. Farmers were trying to fix this issue, and then Coronavirus lockdown came up as disruption.
Another major issue faced by the agriculture sector in the lockdown is farmers fleeing to their homes due to the fear of coronavirus. Our food production also depends on the availability of human resources, farm inputs and free movement of agricultural produce. And all these are restricted at this time due to lockdown. These problems will lead to weak food production and high food price inflation. Also, if this continues for more days, food production would decrease later this year.
SumArth Is Redressing The Problem: Know More
The issues mentioned above call yet another dilemma among the farmers- who will harvest, process, store and transport Rabi wheat and other crops across the country in this lockdown?
SumArth, an agriculture-based non-profit organisation in Bihar, is providing a one-stop solution for the same. The time of harvesting is at its peak. Still, the traditional harvesting culture of crops can accelerate COVID-19 spread in villages because they work together in the fields without any physical distance. Therefore, SumArth is providing a technology-led harvesting tool to prevent the farming community and villages from this health emergency in the Magadh region of Bihar.
They are providing sanitised reaper binder machines for harvesting crops in this season. These types of equipment are saving plants, farmers’ time and health. They are also providing enough fodder for livestock of villages in time of crisis.
Their field officers are helping farmers in staying at a necessary distance in the field. Logistics and supply chain of agricultural resources like fertilisers, pesticides and other materials are disturbed. Farmers have no access to these resources in lockdown, and they are facing crop health issues in standing crops like onion, vegetables, fruits etc. Team SumArth is collaborating with the local suppliers of agricultural resources and ensuring their delivery on-farm and door of farmers.
Lockdown has also stopped the field activities training sessions in villages. But SumArth is using online tools to solve crop health complications. In these days, they are regularly calling the farmers to know the status of the crops. They identify the problems, delayed or wrong practices of farmers and then provide suggestions according to identified issues. They are reaching out to 40-50 farmers per day with this approach.
In this coronavirus pandemic, SumArth is providing all necessary food items for a healthy life in remote areas. Currently, spinach, bottle garden, mushroom, coriander, ladyfinger, drum stick, banana, papaya, strawberry etc are available on a genuine rate. They are also collaborating with government institutions and other development partners to support farmers and needy people.
I request you all to remember your farmers during the COVID-19 crisis as we’ll need them all the time.