By Dr Samarendra Hazarika
The COVID-19 pandemic may likely have an extensive and far reaching impact on the agriculture industry. The disruptions on rural livelihoods and food supplies from COVID-19 lockdown is a matter of concern for stakeholders in the North East agriculture sector.
Even before COVID 19 pandemic the growth of North East agriculture was marginal. Except horticultural commodity, there is deficit in food grain (-4.4%), pulse (73%), egg (-88%), meat (-57%) and milk (-74%). During post lockdown period, the magnitude of deficits of food grain and other agricultural commodities appears to jump many fold and will have far reaching consequences in farm sector economy.
Farmers are already struggling to harvest and trade perishables due to shortage of workforce, transportation and limited market operations. North East always depends heavily on main land for availability of agricultural inputs viz. quality seed, planting materials, poultry chicks, manures, fertilizers, animal/poultry feed, medicine etc. Due to disruption of supply chain, the input supply to the region has been affected to a great extent. Consequently, crop production during the kharif season will be seriously impacted.
The sale of dairy products; fish; poultry, etc. has also been hit during the lockdown period as the players have been affected due to shortage of workforce and transport issues.
Even though the seed industry has been permitted to function, seed processing and packaging industries are seriously constrained due to work force unavailability.
To give respite to the resource poor farmers from the COVID 19 post lockdown consequences, the concerned government and private sector agency should take following initiative to give dynamism to North East agriculture.
Amidst the current tensions, government should take adequate measures to supply quality seeds and other farm inputs in time for kharif season.
Aquaculture is an important sector in the North east and fish seed availability should not suffer at any cost. Since the season for fish seed production sets in, government should support fish seed production unit, private as well as government, through supply of hatchery unit, fish feed, medicine etc., support to distribution and marketing system.
The small and medium enterprises that run with raw materials from the agriculture and allied sector or otherwiseneed special attention so that the rural economy doesn’t collapse.
Small poultry and dairy farmers need more targeted help, as their pandemic-related input supply and market-access problems are urgent.
Immediate intervention is required in the dairy sector, as milk production is not only a source of livelihood for smallholders but also a major source of nutrition.
As lockdown measures have increased, demand has risen for home delivery of fruits and vegetables physically or through E-commerce. This trend should be encouraged and promoted.
Promotion of multi cropping and exploration of the areas for diversification should be in the fore front of government post lockdown agricultural plan.
Emphasis should be given on postharvest processing and value addition of agriculture produce. About from 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the fruits and vegetables get wasted annually due to gaps in the cold chain such as poor infrastructure, insufficient cold storage capacity, unavailability of cold storages in close proximity to farms, poor transportation infrastructure, etc.
The region offers scope for cultivation of a wide variety of horticultural crops because of its diversities in topography,altitude and climatic conditions.But, the availability of basic infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, processing/marketing/storage facilities, in the NER is far below the national standards.
The overall infrastructure index for the region (at 93) also falls short of the national average of 100. The only exception is Assam, which has an index of 104 (CMIE, 2000).
Government should be proactive in resolving issues being faced by the stakeholders in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Strengthening credit facilities (e.g. KCC) to farmers should be taken on priority.
Synchronized efforts should be made for conservation practices such as crop diversification, zero tillageand integrated farming system.
Fragmented supply chain is a serious issue in the marketing of agricultural produce in the North East. There is large gap in storage, cold chains and road connectivity. It should be viewed seriously to protect the resource poor farmers from the consequence of COVID-19 lockdown.
Mechanization of hill agriculture with small farm implements through custom hiring approach should find prominent place in government post lockdown measures for agricultural development.
Subsidies should be provided to the manufacturers of such machines/toolsso that farmers can buy them at economical prices.
On the top of the post lockdown consequences, climate change in north east is also becoming a serious issue of concern.
According to the Economic Survey, 2018 report, income loss of farmers due to climate change could be between 15% and 18% on average, rising to anywhere between 20% and 25% in unirrigated areas. The risk bearing capacity of small and marginal farmers, representing 85% of farmers, is very limited and therefore, adequate climate change adaptation and mitigation measures should be put in place for livelihood security of farmers of the region affected by COVID-19 lockdown.
Skill development of migrant workers for fruitful engagement in rural agriculture sector should be taken up on priority.
ICAR can provide opportunity to these workers for developing their skills through Agri Business Incubation (ABI) Centre established at ICAR, Umiam, Meghalaya.
Central as well as State Governments have announced several schemes for prosperity of farming community in the recent years. But plethora of action is needed for implementation of these schemes in true spirit for sustainability of agricultural economy during post COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. S. Hazarika, Principal Scientist, ICAR Umiam, Meghalaya
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of ICAR and ICAR does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.