A farmer with a face mask inside a greenhouse during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Credit: Dinodia Photos / Alamy Stock Photo
A phone survey reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic affected Indian farmers’ health and their ability to work in the fields1. National lockdowns in 2020 also disrupted supply chains and farmers’ access to credit and markets.
Scientists at the Public Health Foundation of India in New Delhi interviewed 3,637 farmers in 20 states and union territories between 1 December 2020 and 10 January 10 2021.
They found that rice and wheat remained the dominant crops followed by pulses, vegetables and mustard. More than 60% of the farmers reported no change or an increase in fertiliser and pesticide use.
About one in five had difficulty accessing bank credit during the monsoon season. More than half of the farmers in Assam, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal coped by growing vegetables and soybean in their kitchen gardens.
Many farmers survived by reducing their prices, finding new markets and storing more of their produce.
COVID-19 infection hit landless and small farmers hard – they reported losing work, either for several days, half the days or nearly every day in the previous month. Among agricultural labourers, 43% were not able to find work. About 17% reported a decrease in wage rate.
A notable proportion of the farmers ate less than usual. Some skipped a meal every day and about 6% went without eating for a whole day. Food rations and kitchen gardens protected them from more severe food scarcity.
While India faced an economic slump in the first quarter of 2020, its agricultural sector grew by 3.4%, the researchers note.
