Some lessons from the corona crisis

The agriculture sector has displayed greater resilience against the Covid-19 onslaught compared to manufacturing, services and other major sectors of the economy

The common impression that agriculture has remained unaffected by Covid-19 pandemic is only partly true. While the output of crops and agriculture’s allied fields has generally been sustained or even bettered in some cases, the income of most farmers has shrunk. The reason chiefly is the price decline and supply disruptions during the lockdown period which coincided with the peak rabi harvest and marketing season. The erosion of demand from bulk consumers like hotels and restaurants has also affected the prices of farm goods.

Perishable produce, indeed, suffered the most from the slump in wholesale prices though the retail prices of many items tended to firm up. Market reports point to a price fall of 10 to 50 per cent in various commodities at different stages of the Covid crisis, thereby, undoing the potential gains from higher yields. This is borne out of the analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on different commodity sectors conducted by research institutes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as part of the strategy to find the remedial measures. It unveiled clear evidence of the horticultural produce taking the maximum hit. 

The latest official crop production estimates for 2019-20 have put the horticultural harvest at 313.35 million tonne, some 0.84 per cent higher than the previous year’s 310.74 million tonne. Yet, the farmers complained of substantially lower returns from the horticultural produce.

The Nagpur-based Central Citrus Research Institute, for instance, has assessed the total losses sustained by the citrus fruit growers at Rs 2,995 crore. Orchid farmers, on the other hand, have reported nil sale of their delicate produce during the lockdown period, according to the National Research Centre for Orchids, Gangtok. Similarly, the losses to the producers of black pepper, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, chillies and tree spices like clove, cinnamon and nutmeg have been assessed by the Kozhikode-based Indian Institute of Spices Research at around Rs 475 crore. The losses in the banana sector are reckoned by the Tiruchirapalli-based National Research Centre of Banana at around Rs 200 crore.

There is also another side of the story that cannot be disregarded. This relates to the display of much greater resilience by the agriculture sector against the Covid-19 onslaught compared to manufacturing, services and other major sectors of economy. Agriculture has, in fact, emerged as a bright spot in the otherwise bleak situation. But no single factor can be credited for this. The acclaim has to be apportioned, even if in varying degrees, to the grit of the farmers; exceptional promptness shown by the Centre and state governments in addressing farming-related issues; and timely and expert guidance provided by the agricultural research network.

The Centre, on its part, was fairly quick to lift lockdown restrictions from agriculture and its allied activities. It also doubled the agriculture and rural sector spending in April and May in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak. Such a big jump in funding of a sector has few parallels. The state governments, too, did not lose time to respond positively to the pandemic-specific and other problems of the farmers. They ensured smooth procurement of foodgrains despite mandatory anti-virus precautions and paucity of workers.

Farm scientists came to the rescue of the farmers by offering them expert counseling at every step during this crisis. The ICAR institutions, state agricultural universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras took both pre-emptive and proactive actions to stave off rural distress. They used mostly digital communication techniques for conveying specialised advisories to the farmers regarding harvesting and post-harvest handling, storage, transportation and marketing of grains, fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, fish and other farm produce. Continuing these efforts, they are now offering useful tips on kharif sowing through social media like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and short telephonic messages in different languages.

Interestingly, taking a cue from the coronavirus crisis, the ICAR is trying to build capacity to cope with similar outbreaks in crops and livestock sectors. It is planning to launch studies to understand evolution of plant pathogens (disease-causing organisms), including viruses, and the modes of their transmission and interaction with hosts. This would provide an insight into the ways and means of tackling such contingencies in future. 

The vast wealth of genetic resources kept in the gene banks is proposed to be scanned to identify the sources of resistance for viruses.

Virologists and pathologists engaged in human health care systems should, perhaps, learn a lesson from it.

surinder.sud@gmail.com