Constraints Faced by Farmers due to COVID-19 Disruptions on Agricultural Activities in Nalgonda District of Telangana, India

Abstract

The objective of the study was to provide insights on disruptions faced by farmers due to COVID-19 for harvest of rabi (winter) crop and preparations for kharif (summer) crop and to suggest appropriate policy measures to enable farmers to cope with similar disruptions in agricultural activities. Data were collected from 125 farmers from five tribal hamlets of Deverkonda mandal of Nalgonda district of Telangana state. The major constraints reported by almost all the farmers (99.2%) were financial problems primarily due to loss of wage work, repayment of informal loans (83%), fear of contracting COVID-19 (92%) and health of family members (89%) which adversely affected their work efficiency. Paddy crop was the most affected as rated by 80.8% of the farmers, followed by vegetables 52.8%, groundnut 41.6%, cotton 37.6%, redgram 16.8% and fruit crops(sweet lime) 13.6% respectively. The farmers faced problems in land preparation (92.8%), high cost of inputs (96.8%), and low availability of inputs (75.2%), transport problems to procure inputs (96.8%), labour shortage (67.2%) and storage of unsold produce (75.2%). Shortage of animal feed (79.2%) and health care of animals (85.6%) were the constraints faced in livestock care. The harvesting of paddy was the most affected due to shortage of labour and harvesting machines. Community seed and animal feed banks, collectives like farmer producer organizations, collateral free credit, small packaging of inputs, promotion of youth entrepreneurship in processing storage and sale of produce and mechanization of small farms, direct procurement, logistic support are some of the immediate and mid- term measures being suggested for building resilience of food systems to face future risks.