Page 26 - Dream May 2020 English

COVID-19 SPECIAL
AGRICULTURE
and safety measures to prevent the disease spread. Simple measures including social distancing, ensuring personal hygiene, wearing of face mask, protective clothing and cleaning of implements and machinery have also been made mandatory for farm-related activities.
The relief package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore announced by India’s Finance Minister during lockdown will help the poor. Besides, the early payment of instalment of Rs. 2,000 under the PM KISAN Yojana (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme) will cover financial upkeep of 87 million farmers of the country. The present efforts of the Government will be only for a short duration. We need to think about the long- term implications also. This means preparedness for next cropping season, namely the kharif season. Majority of Indian population’s survival is dependant on agriculture, and a good harvest depends on quality seeds delivered to farmers by the seed sector provided by both public and private organisations. Amid the coronavirus crisis, good seeds and other farm inputs must reach farmers in time for the kharif season. India needs about 250 lakh quintals of seeds for the kharif season. The preparation of the seeds takes place between March and May. From there, they are sent to labs for testing
and, finally, are packaged for supply to the farmers. This is a time-consuming process and hence should be taken care of while making plans and policies with reference to remedial strategies for the coronavirus pandemic. The complete seed production ecosystem is complex and requires the help of allied sectors such as transport, testing labs and the packaging industry. The role of large segment of small and medium seed companies will be vital to meet the demand.
Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) recommendations
The Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) has suggested some measures to
combat the COVID-19 pandemic and the
risk to food supply chains. The recommendation of FAO for smallholder farmers suitably fit the Indian context. The insight of the guidance and suggestive core measures includes: 1. Support to smallholder farmers to both enhance their productivity and help them market the food they produce, also through e-commerce channels.
2. Bringing collection centres closer to smallholder producers to reduce the need for mobility. Collection centres should have high capacity. Food banks can play a significant role, given their knowledge, as well as horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms with farmers’ associations engaged in contract farming arrangements.
3. Establishing warehouse receipt systems for farmers to use the receipts to get their payments.
4. Accelerating the development of e-commerce for smallholders. Smallholder farmers must have access to
finance so that they can continue farming.
5. Waiving off of fees on farmers’ loans and extending payment deadlines by banks. A capital injection in the agricultural sector can help small and medium agri-businesses to continue operations.
6. Improving storage that can help reduce post-harvest crop losses along the supply chain.
7. Government should meet the necessary energy needs of smallholder farmers and rural households.
8. Local governments must consider an alternative to school meals, such as home delivery of meal to keep the producers employed and children nourished.
9. During an emergency, Governments can purchase agricultural products from smallholder farmers to establish strategic emergency reserves, especially for non-perishable commodities, to boost food supply. This can be used to deliver safety-net programmes and school meals, even when schools are closed.
Time is trying us hard. We need courage and right information as the fighting tools to overcome this coronavirus outbreak. We need to make informed decisions, so COVID-19
doesn’t evolve to threaten our agriculture and food supply. There will be chances that the agri-input ecosystem may collapse in future, so the Government should ensure that all sub-trades and manufacturing units associated with agri- inputs function. Timely announcement of special stimulus package from Government for agriculture and allied activities including microfinance will help Indian agriculture to build again from the damage caused by the outbreak.
Majority of the Indian farmers are small and marginal in land holding. The main affected areas of agriculture are harvesting and supply chain. The Government has suitably issued lockdown guidelines that exempt farm operations and
supply chains. Nonetheless, addressing issues that lead to worker shortages and rising prices should be addressed. To ensure food security it is important that supply chains work uninterrupted. The practice of social distancing by farmers should be strictly enforced as far as possible to ensure the chain-break of coronavirus transmission. Measures should be taken to ensure that farmers get continued market access with a combination of public procurement and private markets. Other farm sectors such as small poultry, dairy farmers etc. should be considered equally important with respect to their inputs. Assistance package for farmers and agricultural workers should be continued until the stability is achieved in the domestic sector.
Dr K.B. Bhushan is Scientist ‘D’ in Vigyan Prasar. Email: bhushan@vigyanprasar.gov.in
The relief package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore announced by India’s Finance Minister during lockdown will help the poor. Besides, the early payment of instalment of Rs. 2,000 under the PM KISAN Yojana will cover financial upkeep of 87 million farmers of the country.
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