Impact of Covid-19 on Agricultural Output and Farm Inputs in Uttar Pradesh (India): An Empirical Analysis at Farm Household Level
Abstract
The present paper examines the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on agriculture sector of Uttar Pradesh and also assesses the impact of Covid-19 on farm/ crop production and availability of agricultural inputs. The primary information was collected from 360 farmers of 6 districts of Uttar Pradesh through structured farm household schedule. The macro level analysis shows that agricultural output has been found positive in Uttar Pradesh during the Covid-19 period. The farm household level results indicate that the agricultural output has declined as per 69.0 percent respondents whereas it has increased for only 9.0 percent farmers. As the output prices of the agricultural commodities are concerned, it has declined according to 62.0 percent respondents. On the other hand 19.0 percent reported an increase in the output prices of agricultural sector of farm household. The study also revealed that the availability of agricultural inputs declined and prices of farm input increased substantially. Moreover, it also found the performance of agriculture sector in Western Uttar Pradesh is better than the Bundelkhand region of the state. The present study suggests that agricultural infrastructural facilities, effective digitalization of agro activities and integrated agriculture cold chain need to be improved for mitigating the losses caused by such pandemic.
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Introduction
It has been extensively known that agriculture of Uttar Pradesh is one of the most operative tools for achieving higher growth and reducing poverty especially in rural areas (Kumar, Sanjeev et al., 2020). Agriculture sector is backbone of Uttar Pradesh economy, where around 50.0 percent of the population depends directly on this sector for their livelihood. Moreover, agricultural sector occupies an important place in socio-economic space in the state with one-fourth of state domestic product and also providing the highest employment to the masses (UPDES, 2022). This sector is also a pivot point for food security of the country and plays a key role in supporting secondary and tertiary sector of the state. The fertile Indo-Gangetic plains playa vital role of agriculture sector in Uttar Pradesh. Agriculture sector of the state is a significant contributor to the national food security. Around 40.0 percent of India’scereal (paddy & wheat crop) is produced by the state and the highest producer of cash cropi.e., sugarcane (Gulati et al., 2021).
In the year 2020, world experienced once in a century catastrophe which brought the economy to a standstill. Like calm before a storm, Covid-19 induced lockdown created a situation for an unforeseen chaos that affected lives and livelihood of billions across the world. For the first time in modern economic era both demand and supply got adversely hit. At its core, Covid-19 pandemic was a health crisis, but due to contagious nature of the disease governments allover the world reluctantly had to impose lockdown to contain the spread which transformed a health crisis into a full fledge economic crisis. Furthermore it adversely affected all the sectors except agriculture. The Indian economy taking major hit during Covid-19 pandemic, agricultural sector showed most resilience towards harmful effects of the lockdown. Being the only sector with positive growth rate during Covid-19 pandemic it acted as a buffer to rural economy providing temporary employment to migrated laborers. Most of the states in India with higher share of agriculture in gross state value added (GSDP) witnessed a lower contraction in economic activity vis-à-vis states with higher share of industry and services (Goyal et.al. 2022)
The impact of pandemic on the agriculture sector differs from the other sectors of the economy, as well as region to region. The shortage of labor and machinery, limited access to crop fields and crop marketing, poor access to agricultural inputs, advisory services, supply chain disruptions and perishability of the products were reported as the major issues in the sector during this pandemic in India (Adhikari et.al., 2021; Kaur,2021)
Conclusion
AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS Although overall impact of Covid-19 pandemic on Indian economy is quite harsh, there is agriculture sector which records positive growth rate during both Covid-19 waves, however, industrial and service sector suffered significantly. According to the findings, major impact of Covid-19 is observed on fisheries and poultry, due to the widespread fear of fishes being the vector of the contagious disease. Covid-19 has no impact on agricultural output as per 22.0 percent respondents whereas it has increased by 9.0 percent farmers. The agricultural output declined as per 69.0 percent respondents, the reason behind declined output were strict restrictions imposed on the labour, machinery movement and supply of various inputs. As regards availability of inputs, 37.0 percent farmers reported that there was no impact on the availability of inputs during pandemic , whereas 58.0 percent reported that there has been decline in availability of inputs .The prices of inputs remained same for 18.0 percent respondents, 5.0 percent reported a decline and 77.0 percent said that the prices of inputs increased due to disruption in movement of men and machinery, prevalent corruption in distribution of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, seeds etc.. The study revealed that the performance of agriculture sector in Western Uttar Pradesh is more satisfactory than the Bundelkhand region of the state. The present study suggests that the agricultural infrastructural facilities, effective digitalization of agro activities and integrated agriculture cold chain need to be improved for mitigating the losses caused by the pandemic. Agriculture sector being a prominent sector for the revival of the economy from the aftermath of the pandemic needs more attention of the policy makers. To overcome the issues faced by farmhouse hold and to prevent such happenings in the future, we need to ensure that the market mechanism for agricultural inputs and output need to be more effective and free from every form of evil which could hinder the growth of agricultural sector. The inclusion of farmers under government initiatives such as e-NAM, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Livestock Insurance Schemes needs to be increased to revitalize agriculture sector and to improve their economic conditions.