COVID-19 emerged as an unprecedented crisis that shook the economies of countries all over the world.
Do you know why the shelves of supermarkets seemed empty during the initial phase of the COVID crisis? Have you wondered why the prices of certain commodities rose, and the others got cheaper? Ever thought of the adversities farmers and food industries would have possibly faced during the pandemic?
Though the agriculture and food sectors are the most prominent players, which cannot be severely halted, the pandemic's impact on these two sectors could be observed. Let us observe the basic factors that caused the real trouble-
1. The initial phase of COVID-19 caused stockpiling of food commodities by both consumers and the government. The consumers feared their possible inability to get out of their houses in unsafe conditions to buy essential commodities, which forced them to panic-buying. This caused a situation of instability in the distribution system.
2. The closure of hotels, cafes, and restaurants led to a diminution in demand, and increased amount with sellers, causing them to decrease the selling price of commodities before they spoiled.
3. Farmers faced difficulty in accessing the markets, which caused perishable commodities to spoil. Grape farmers were forced to convert their crops to resins as the demand for grapes decreased, due to lowered alcohol consumption (in India).
4. International borders were sealed to contain the spread of COVID-19 across the globe. This led to a halt in seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides transport, thus leading to problems in the availability of agricultural inputs.
5. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many agricultural laborers migrated to their native places. Production losses were incurred on labor-intensive crops such as tea. Livestock production was also impacted adversely due to a shortage of labor.
6. Due to transport problems, and increased petrol and diesel prices in India, the rate of transportation increased. This caused logistical constraints as many farmers were unable to take their produce to the market.
7. The demand for certain commodities like cut flowers decreased, which led to huge losses to the producers.
There was a varied impact of the COVID crisis on different commodities. But, majorly, the impact was severe in raw, or semi-processed food products, as the processed food products with variable shelf life were able to sustain the initial lockdown phase and returned to normal consumption pattern with market revival. However, this was not the case with the former. When observed sector-wise, we can broadly witness the impact on Horticulture, Dairy, Meat, Poultry, Fisheries, Cereals, Oilseeds, Jute, Cotton, and Sugarcane industries.
Kashmiri apples incurred a price dip as the previous year's batch kept in the cold store was yet to be released in the market, and the batch of 2020 needed to be stored. Mango exporters experienced huge losses due to border restrictions. In both the agricultural and food industry, the meat and poultry sector was the hardest hit due to the rumors circulating in public regarding poultry as the carrier of the COVID-19 infection. The spices sector was the one that incurred profit, due to the increased sale of products such as turmeric. This was due to the immunity-boosting properties of the same.
In India, certain measures were taken by the government to alleviate the plight of producers, farmers, and individuals linked to the entire food system. Some of these included
1.Pradhanmantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan)
2. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PM-UY)
3. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PM-JDY)
4. Pradhanmantri Ann Vitran Yojana (PM-AVY)
This was a minor aspect of how COVID-19 impacted the agricultural and food systems.
To get more detailed, systematic, and comprehensive information on the same, you can refer to the book- "The Impact of COVID-19 on Agricultural and Food Landscape of India." Here you will find sweeping detail on every sector mentioned in the article above, with ample graphs and data from authentic sources, analyzed for the easy understanding of readers.
Book Title- The Impact of COVID-19 on Agriculture and Food Landscape of India
Author- Ankita Jukaria
The e-book is available at Amazon Kindle!
To read the e-book, please refer to the following link-
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