Impact of COVID-19 on the Production of Farmers in Raipur District of Chhattisgarh

Abstract

Background: The backbone of the Indian financial system, and the main source of income in rural India, is agriculture. The COVID-19 illness significantly impacted the agricultural supply chain, from the industrial hub to the final consumer. This article begins by analyzing the many strategies that have a bearing on farmer’s production. the overall impact while throwing a bit of challenge across in all the sectors but in terms of production it was seen as positive. Methods: The agricultural years 2019–20 & 2020–21 serve as the study's reference period. By selecting sample villages, the study's data were gathered from 300 households and 50 migrant and non-migrant workers in the Chhattisgarh district of Raipur. Result: We found that the maize crop had the highest yield loss mostly -5.13 per cent which is due to untimely harvest and unavailability of labours. Also, lak/teora crop yield decreased by -2.83 per cent. Also, we can see from the table that the yield of paddy, vegetables (Bitter guard, brinjal ladies finger and bottle guard), and Arhar had increased by 16.18, 60.76, 61.39, 39.87, 59.74 and 14.28 per cent respectively from previous years yield. The real impact in the case of crop production was seen in the prices of farm produce. The return of migrant workers also increased production; it was found from the study that agriculture was the only source of income for every household during the lockdown. Farmers experienced a shortage of agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides as a result of world trade disruption.