Farmers have been suffering for a while; the pandemic plus more erratic weather patterns mean that agriculture now stares at a double whammy effect.
The agricultural sector is often known as India’s invisible backbone because it employs about half of the country’s workforce and feeds its one billion people. Today, it remains one of the hardest hit sectors by the novel coronavirus pandemic. Even before the pandemic arrived in India, farmers across the country’s northern belt had suffered huge financial losses due to hail and unseasonal rain. The coronavirus-induced lockdown was thus another devastating blow for the farming community.
The pandemic has led to a multitude of problems in the farming sector, chief among them are the breakdown of supply chains, acute shortage of farm labour, and fall in demand. India implemented one of the strictest nationwide lockdowns in the world to curb the spread of Covid-19 in 2020, this led to a sudden halt in movement of labour and goods. With a steep drop in availability of farmhands and a lack of access to markets/mandis due to movement restrictions, farmers across India were suddenly faced with a double whammy. The problems were even greater for banana, exotic flowers and vegetable growers whose products are highly perishable and are required to be sold in time. A slump in demand due to an overall sluggish economy coupled with tons of excess produce led to hundreds of desperate growers dumping their products. At the height of the lockdown, there were scores of videos on the internet showing farmers dumping produce such as grapes and other vegetables due to lack of storage facilities and a drop in demand from cities.
Although the lockdown has since eased and economic activity is seeing a mild uptick, India is still very much in the grips of the pandemic and the remnants of problems faced by farmers still exist.
What can be done to assuage problems faced by farmers during the pandemic?
Direct payments to farmers and labourers:
Although the agricultural sector has been hit on the whole, there are certain sections in the community who have been doubly burdened because they have no savings to fall back on. Women and tenant farmers, smallholder farmers, and those who work as seasonal labourers are among the hardest hit and in need of urgent care. Direct transfer of monetary benefits under schemes for small and marginal farmers can help farming families to cope with losses. In addition to this, those covered under rural employment schemes should also be given increased monetary support due to job losses across the country.
Ushering in new policy reforms:
Experts say that this pandemic presents a rare opportunity for the government to usher in policy reforms. Restructuring policies to make them more oriented towards a direct income-based approach could be the first step in improving farmers’ lives. Setting up commissions to look into farmers issues is another way to bring in policy reform that is in-touch with the ground reality. Activists like Kishore Tiwari have in fact suggested the forming of the Maharashtra Farmers’ Rights Commission (MFRC) that is vested with judicial power. Entities like these can be charged with the task of resolving the three-decade-old issue of farmer suicides through implementation of integrated programmes.
Redirecting farm supply:
One of the biggest problems farmers encountered during the pandemic was dumping of crops due to lack of demand from cities and no adequate storage facilities. This was happening even as thousands in India were facing acute food insecurity and were forced to the brink of starvation due to job losses. P. Sainath, one of India’s leading voices in rural journalism, has often advocated for redirecting farm supplies to local areas. He says that this can be achieved by persuading farmers to sell their produce to local cooperative style channels. This measure can drastically reduce food wastage and help farmers to sell their produce at a basic minimum price.
In addition to these specific policy measures, the central government should also take cognisance of the plight of children from farming families. Children have no one to advocate for them and are often the worst affected by unforeseen circumstances. Provision of free education for kids orphaned due to Covid-19 should be a policy that the govt considers seriously. Also, supplementary policies to help provide free rations and free vaccinations for farmers and their families must also be implemented. A pertinent example of one such policy would be the Maharashtra’s government’s “Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana” that was launched in 2017 under Mr. Kishore Tiwari. The scheme provides free access to medical care in government empanelled 488 hospitals for 971 types of diseases, surgeries and therapies costing up to Rs.1,50,000 per year per family.
And last but not the least, the debt problem that was already an insurmountable challenge for farmers even before the pandemic must be eased; fresh loan waivers or concessions in loan payments must be an option on the table.
These are just a few of the solutions that can be adopted to assuage the farming community’s plight. While most of us in urban areas have been lucky enough to tide these financially difficult months, vulnerable communities in the farming sector will continue to depend on selling their produce for basic survival. In order to ensure that farming families are not forced into any further distress, the government has to make sweeping changes with strong resolve.