Farm-to-fork logistics on the edge as Covid-19 disrupts supply chain

Simran Sandhu, a farmer in Haryana, had high hopes from his wheat crop. Not only was the harvest looking good, he expected to get a good price as market prices had improved marginally over the last few months.

Two events put paid to his plans.

Frequent unseasonal rain in the latter half of January, followed by the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, has left Sandhu fearing he may lose a substantial part of his harvest as labourers working in the fields have vanished and harvesters are difficult to hire.

Shops selling fertiliser and seeds are closed, clouding even the prospect of sowing short-duration summer crops,