Impact of COVID-19 on agriculture and allied sectors

COVID-19 has emerged a global pandemic, which has impacted world economy. Indian agriculture sector majorly share in Indian economy, is also one of the victim of this pandemic along with manufacturing and service sectors. The restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 have greatly impacted the agricultural allied sector in all corners. A national level study was formulated to see the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture and allied sectors and expostfacto design of research was used. Heads and SMSs of KVKs from 11 ATARIs were selected as respondents. The questionnaire was developed with the help of Google form on six dimensions such as livestock sector, horticulture sector, food sector, agricultural labourers, social media and psychological dimension and normal descriptive statistics (Mean, Standard Deviation) was used. During the study it observed that in livestock sector, surplus production of milk and marketing, feed and concentrate availability were major affected areas along with government initiative for marketing with curfew passes considered as major factors. The effect of COVID-19 on food and horticulture/floriculture sector was affected severely. The harvesting of major food crops was completed but in s ome part it was affected the farmers due to non-availability of labourers. Major fruit crops harvesting and marketing was affected. Agricultural labourers were affected mostly due to shut down of different activities. Through various government schemes labourers were supported financially and logistically with supply of food products. Social media have emerged as essential tools to disseminate the information through various social media and digital platforms. Various psychological effects were studied and accordingly suggestions were given. Best possible strategies in each dimension have been suggested which can be deployed with little medication.