Impact Assessment During COVID-19 on Agricultural Activities on Farming Community in Haryana

Since World War II, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed the biggest humanitarian threat to humanity. For the Indian economy, the agricultural and associated sector is of utmost importance. It offers employment for about 50 per cent of the workforce and nearly one-sixth of the national income of India. By 2050, the world’s population is projected to reach over 10 billion, which will result in a 50 per cent increase in agricultural demand compared to 2013. COVID-19 has exposed vulnerabilities and power imbalances in the Indian agricultural system for learning and building resilience against future shocks. The pandemic also highlighted the underlying inequalities and income disparities across the society as manifested by the responses of different farming community. We must consider the idea of sustainability as we plan to strengthen the agriculture industry. Nothing is more important than sustainability of rural community where food security is concerned. Farmers not only grow food but they also conserve biodiversity, provide wholesome, regional foods, come up with fresh ideas, and implement novel solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems. Communities who are at risk or whose behaviors have an impact on risk are routinely consulted, engaged, and communicated with using community engagement processes and methodologies. The aim is to encourage, enable and include stakeholders in the prevention of and response to risks by adapting communication to local real. The study on the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural activities would be quite useful to policy makers, academicians, non-government organizations, financing institutions and many others. These studies would be useful in assessing where we stand now and what further need to be done when we face such type of pandemics. The issue of sustainability of farming community now needs to be taken on priority basis as it gives equal weight to environmental, social, and economic concerns in agriculture and that too at the times of pandemics.