Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Punjab Agriculture

Kamal Vatta (), Shruti Bhogal, Cameron A. Petrie, Adam S. Greens and Sandeep Dixit
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Kamal Vatta: Punjab Agricultural University
Shruti Bhogal: Centers for International Projects Trusts (CIPT)
Cameron A. Petrie: University of Cambridge
Adam S. Greens: University of Cambridge
Sandeep Dixit: Centers for International Projects Trusts (CIPT)

A chapter in Covid-19 Pandemic and Economic Development, 2021, pp 33-47 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The shutdown of almost all economic activities to inhibit the spread of COVID-19 occurred in early 2020 in India including Punjab and had serious implications for Punjab agriculture as wheat harvesting was just going to start faced with immediate shortages of labour and machinery and posing challenges for effective procurement. A few months after the wheat harvesting, sowing/transplantation of kharif crops such as cotton, maize and paddy required multiple times more labour force and posed serious challenges to farmers across the state. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of the adaptations strategies of Punjab farmers under such situation. The assessment is based on telephonic/personal survey of 120 farmers under the auspices of the TIGRRESS (Transforming India's Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food Supplies of University of Cambridge, UK) Project, a collaborative and interdisciplinary programme designed to improve the sustainability of India’s agriculture. Despite considerable challenges, farmers adopted different strategies to address labour shortages and marketing challenges as influenced by their holding size, financial resources and access to local information networks. Marginal and small farmers increased the use of family labour, while medium and large farmers showed an increased use of machinery. The medium and large farmers who showed higher dependence on machinery were inclined to diversify their cropping pattern in kharif season.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-4442-9_3

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