Assessing the impact of the covid-19 lockdown on Indian agriculture and identifying sustainable resource thresholds for smallholder farmers

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Government of India to institute a stringent nationwide ‘lockdown’ that severely restricted the movement of people and goods. The lockdown had a strong impact on agricultural harvesting and marketing, which varied across different categories of farmers. Here we find that in the states of Punjab and Telangana, farmers with more than two hectares of landholding were more resilient, while smaller farmers were more susceptible to lockdown induced disruptions-the most problematic being labor shortages. While the large farmers mitigated labor scarcity through the use of harvest machinery, small farmers, constricted by insufficient capital, enlisted the labor of household members to undertake necessary farming activities. The findings of the study suggest that future policies shouldfocus on ensuring easier access to labor, credit and marketing facilities for small and marginal farmers. Such initiatives will require an active contribution by the government.